What If?
by las2217
Summary: What if Sam and Dean had finished their hunt for the Woman in White just an hour or two earlier and made it back to Stanford in time to save Jess from the yellow-eyed demon? Story is in-progress. Managed a quick update for once! Chapter 11 is posted!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I (unfortunately) do not own Supernatural, Sam, Dean, Jess, or literally anything else I have written here. Just the brain that wouldn't leave this idea alone.

 **Author's Note:** So, I'm well aware that we're in Season 12 and this is a fic based in Season 1, but it's been rattling around in my head for a while, so I had to write it anyway. I wrote this with the assumption that Jericho is only a couple of hours from Stanford (the only Jericho, CA I could find on Google Maps was Jericho Canyon in Napa, which is a little over 2hrs. from Stanford, so that's what I'm going with) and that in the actual pilot the boys don't get finished until fairly late on Sunday. Given the fact that it's dark and it seemed like Jess was getting ready to get in the shower before the demon got to her, I'm assuming that Sam made it home somewhere around eleven, maybe. I could be completely wrong, but that's what I'm going with. This is my only my second attempt at writing and my first attempt writing something with more than one chapter. The first chapter is slow, as it's all setup for the rest of the story, but the chapters that follow will pick up. Constructive criticism would be great, and I have some pretty thick skin, so I won't break if you're hard on me. I don't know exactly how many chapters this will consist of, but I'm going to post the first one and then update as regularly as I can until the characters tell me that the story's done. Thanks in advance!

CHAPTER ONE

"Come on, Sammy! We got rid of that Constance chick with plenty of time to spare," Dean argued. "Let's find a bar, have a drink together. Just like old times."

"No, Dean," Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. "I have to get back to school. You promised. Besides, Jess doesn't even know where I am and she's left me a couple of messages that I haven't had the time to return. And its Sam."

"You said you didn't have to be back until Monday, though," Dean reminded him. "It's barely even seven-thirty on Sunday! We have plenty of time to have a couple of beers before we need to be on the road."

Sam shifted uncomfortably. He couldn't shake the nightmare he'd been having about Jess the past few nights. Seeing her on the ceiling, her stomach ripped open, and then suddenly burning. The way he'd been told any number of times that his mother had died. He knew Dean would just tell him he was overreacting and that he'd always been prone to nightmares. This felt different, though. It was to vivid, not at all like a plain old garden variety nightmare.

"I just really want to get back," he finally mumbled, realizing that Dean was still waiting for an answer. "If you still want to sit and have a drink or two, we can do that after we get back to Stanford. And that way Jess can come with us."

Sam hadn't missed the way Dean had looked at Jess the night he broke into their apartment. Hell, a _blind man_ wouldn't have missed the way Dean had looked at Jess. He felt a little guilty using her as a bargaining chip, but knew it was the argument to use if he wanted to get his way without much more arguing.

"Fine," Dean shook his head. "I swear, you're such a bitch sometimes."

"Yeah, yeah, right back at you, jerk," Sam didn't even bother to hide his smile.

xxxx

"Jess! I'm home," Sam called as he unlocked the door and let himself and Dean into the apartment. They'd caught a little bit of traffic on their way home, but hadn't made horrible time. It was only ten, Jess didn't have classes tomorrow, and all he had was the interview. They could afford to be out a little late tonight as long as he could catch a few hours of sleep before the interview in the morning.

"Sam!" Jess's voice came from the kitchen.

Sam and Dean heard the oven close and the sound of something clattering down on the counter. Then Jess came running to the living room and threw herself into Sam's arms, not even acknowledging Dean's presence.

Dean, not wanting to be rude, didn't interrupt. And he most certainly was not noticing the fact that all Jess was wearing was a silky nightgown.

"Is everything okay? Did you find your dad? Where have you been?" Jess started firing questions off rapidly.

"I'm fine. We were a couple of hours away, in Jericho," Sam laughed. He had already decided on the way home what he was going to tell Jess about Dad. Like so much (too much) else, a half-truth was going to have to do. "We didn't see our dad, but he got in touch with us. Dean came back with me, we figured the three of us could go out for a few beers and catch up."

Jess finally noticed Dean standing behind Sam. She smiled and he nodded to her with a decidedly lecherous look in his eye. It took her a second, and then she realized how she was dressed.

"That sounds good," she said, quickly crossing her arms over her chest. "Let me go throw something on and I'll be right out. I just finished making some cookies. They're on the counter, if you guys want some."

The brothers walked into the kitchen as Jess went into the bedroom. They munched cookies in delighted silence for a moment, until Dean opened the fridge looking for some milk to go with the cookies and wrinkled his nose slightly.

"Dude, do you have eggs that you forgot about in here?" he asked, snagging the carton of eggs and sniffing at it suspiciously.

"No, those are brand new," Sam frowned. "We just picked them up the other…"

He broke off quickly as the lights in the apartment flickered on and off several times. He looked at Dean with wide, frightened eyes and whispered one word.

"Jess."

As if on cue, Jess screamed and both brothers bolted the short distance from the kitchen to the bedroom, guns in hand. They burst through the door to see Jess pinned against the wall and a strange man standing in the middle of the room. The man turned to look at them, eyes flashing yellow in the dim light, and Jess slowly started sliding up the wall towards the ceiling.

"Let her go!" Dean ordered, gun trained on the yellow-eyed man. Normally he was a shoot first, ask questions later type of guy but he had no idea what kind of reaction there would be to his loud .45 going off in a crowded apartment building filled with college students.

Sam, on the other hand, was usually the opposite. Hell, he used to drive Dean insane with all of his questions and analyzing, and then over analyzing, and then researching, and analyzing yet again before finally making the decision to shoot. He didn't care this time, though. He saw his dream playing out, knew where this was going, and didn't waste time with threats. He quickly shot the yellow-eyed intruder twice before lunging forward and seizing Jess around the waist. For a terrifying, heart-stopping moment, she kept sliding up the wall and he couldn't pull her away. Then Dean fired and with a flash of his yellow eyes, the man was gone and Jess fell into his arms, sobbing.

xxxx

"Wait, so you're telling me that monsters are real and one just tried to kill me?" Jess looked incredulously at Sam and Dean. "Not only that, you're telling me that you two and your dad, who is now missing, hunt said monsters."

"I know how it sounds…" Dean started.

"Really? Because I really don't think you do. I've spent 22 years thinking that ghosts and zombies are just made up, horror movie crap and now you tell me they're actually real and are out to get me!" Jess was yelling by the end of her tirade.

As expected, the shots had caused several calls to the police. Sam answered the door and gave them an excuse about the TV being too loud before thanking them and they went on their way. That was the easy part. The hard part came next, when Jess wanted to know what exactly had just happened and Sam insisted that they actually tell her the truth.

"Baby, I'm sorry," Sam tried another tactic. "I'm sorry I haven't told you the truth about all of this. The reason I came to Stanford is because I was trying to get away from hunting. I wanted a normal life, and I thought I was finally getting it."

"So why now?" Jess asked. "Why has your dad gone missing and I get attacked at the same time? Is whatever this thing is responsible for both?"

"We can't be sure," Dean just naturally took over the conversation. "Could be that it's connected, could be completely random. We don't honestly know what we're dealing with here, so we can't say."

"You don't even know what this thing is?" Jess looked confused. "I thought this is what you guys do?"

"It is, but there's still plenty out there that we haven't seen," Dean got defensive.

"We do know one thing," Sam jumped in quickly. "Whatever this thing is, it's the same thing that killed our mom."

"It is?" Dean and Jess both asked at the same time.

"Think about it, Dean," Sam gave him a _what are you, stupid_ look. "It was trying to pin her to the ceiling. Right over the bed. It's not exactly rocket science to figure out what was going to happen."

"What was going to happen?" Jess asked nervously. "Sam, you told me that your mom died in a house fire when you were a baby."

"Sammy, we don't know that he was trying to pin her to the ceiling," Dean argued. "Just because he was pushing her up on the wall doesn't mean she was going to end up on the ceiling."

"Um, can someone tell me what you're talking about?" Jess asked again.

"Do you actually listen to what you're saying?" Sam asked, avoiding answering Jess's questions for the moment. "She was practically on the ceiling by the time I got to her and whatever that thing was, it was still moving her."

"That doesn't automatically mean that it's the same thing that killed Mom," Dean was starting to feel a twinge of doubt, though.

"Will you two please shut up and answer me?!" Jess shouted.

Sam and Dean shared a look, neither wanting to be the one to talk about it. Dean crossed his arms and stared. He wasn't even convinced that this was the same thing that had killed their mom and besides, Jess was Sam's girlfriend. Sam seemed to get the message loud and clear because he hung his head and appeared to gather his emotions before he looked up at Jess.

"What I told you was mostly true," he admitted to her. "My mom did die in a fire when I was a baby. That's not the whole story, though. She had come into my nursery and something pinned her to the ceiling over my crib, cut her stomach open, and caused the fire."

"Oh my god," Jess put a hand to her mouth and her eyes filled up with tears.

"We've spent most of our lives hunting for whatever this thing is. We haven't been able to figure it out yet, though. So we can't know for sure that it was the same thing that attacked you tonight," Dean said pointedly.

"Dean, how many times do I have to tell you…" Sam started, but Jess quickly cut him off.

"I think we can be pretty sure," she said softly. "You said that whatever did that to your mom cut her stomach open? Well, look."

She lifted her shirt slightly, baring her stomach. There, running across it was a scratch. It wasn't deep and it wasn't bleeding, but it was clear what the intent had been if it had taken them much longer.

"Holy crap," Dean looked up at Sam. "Sammy, how the hell could you have known? Until she showed us that scratch you couldn't have, but you were convinced."

"Yeah, because I actually use my brain," the words were right, but Sam shifted in his seat as he said them. "It's not really a big deal, the fact is that it's the same thing. It killed Mom, and it tried to kill Jess. Now it's going to find out what that's like because I'm going to find it and kill it."

"Well you know I'm in," Dean smirked.

"What about me?" Jess asked. "I can't just stay here and wait for this thing to come back and finish what it started."

"It's too dangerous for you to come with us, though," Sam said softly.

"More dangerous than having me sit around waiting for whatever this monster is?" Jess shot back. "So that it can come back when you two aren't conveniently in the other room? No, I'm coming with you."

"No, Jess, dammit," Sam ran his hand through his hair anxiously. "I can't drag you into this. I can't. This thing is going after the people I love and if you come with us, I'll be putting you right in its path."

"If it's going after people you love then I'm in danger either way," Jess pointed out. "Or are you just going to stop loving me the second you walk out the door?"

"No, of course not!"

"It's settled then," she said. "I'm coming with you and that's the end of it."

Dean shot an amused glance at Sam, who glared back at him.

"I like her," he pointed to Jess, laughing. Then he turned towards her. "If you're actually set on coming with us, there are a couple of things we're going to need to teach you first. Once we get you all caught up, though, we got plenty of work to do..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I didn't realize what an amazing feeling it was going to be to see that people actually like what I wrote and would like to read more. I hope I can live up to your expectations. This chapter is _much_ longer than the first one and explores some of the training that goes into becoming a hunter as Sam and Dean teach Jess what she needs to know. Also, Jess prepares to go on her first hunt with the boys. This chapter wound up being a bit longer than I had anticipated and I still didn't quite manage to get everything in there that I wanted. Hopefully I'm able to find a happy medium between too short and too long for the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it and it's not too horrible.

Just as an extra note, I have messed with timelines on some things. Characters who don't actually enter the series until later make an appearance well before they're supposed to. The boys may also know things that they probably didn't know until later in Season 1, but I can't quite remember. All things considered, I really am trying to stay as true to the characters and the overall story of Supernatural as I can (hopefully not doing too badly at it).

Thanks again for the reviews and more are always appreciated! Happy reading!

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _"I like her," he pointed to Jess, laughing. Then he turned towards her. "If you're actually set on coming with us, there are a couple of things we're going to need to teach you first. Once we get you all caught up, though, we got plenty of work to do..."_

One week and nearly two thousand miles later, the Impala rolled under a rusted sign that read Singer Salvage Yard. Jess glanced around nervously, eyeing the stacks of cars that, in her opinion, looked pretty precariously perched. Sam and Dean had told her they were taking her to meet an old friend.

"Bobby was like an uncle to us growing up," Sam had told her. "He pretty much knows everything about everything, and whenever we stayed here he made sure we got the chance to be kids instead of just hunters."

They had spent two more days at Stanford, packing only the bare minimum of what Sam and Jess would need to get by on the road and then Dean had hustled them out the door, eager to be moving. The rest of the week had been interesting as Jess acclimated to life as a hunter.

The first night, she'd stopped dead as soon as she stepped foot into the hideous green and orange motel room. There was a pretty good chance, she'd thought, that she'd never seen an uglier room in her entire life. And that included her great aunt's salmon pink living room that had previously held that place of honor.

Sam had at least had the decency to scowl at the décor, but Dean had walked in and thrown his bag onto the bed nearest the door without even seeming to notice it. He stretched and sat down at the little table to pull an old leather journal out.

Jess finally managed to actually bring herself to move further into the disgusting room and let Sam take her bag from her. He settled onto the other bed and after a second Jess sat next to him, twining their fingers together. Sam brought their hands up and gave her fingers a quick kiss. She was hiding it fairly well, but three days ago she'd been a pre-med student and her biggest worries had been finals and wondering if her boyfriend was going to ever propose. Now she had to worry about monsters and being killed. Finals suddenly didn't seem so nerve-wracking anymore.

"Sammy, why don't you take and show Jess how to break down and clean some of the guns," Dean suggested, still paging through the journal. "Gotta start somewhere."

"It's _Sam_ ," he said for about the fiftieth time that day. "And I can do that, if it's okay with you, hon."

"Like he said, I have to start somewhere," Jess shrugged. "I guess if I'm going to be using these weapons, I should know how they work."

That earned a chuckle from Dean, who said, "I'm pretty sure those are almost the exact words that Dad used with Sammy when he decided it was time for him to learn."

The next few nights had gone similarly. They'd get up in the morning, eat a quick breakfast, drive until Dean claimed it was time to stop, and then spend the night in an ugly motel room. Jess quickly learned how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble every gun they had. During the long days in the car Sam would pull out their father's journal and teach her something from it.

Snapping back to reality, Jess realized Dean had parked the car and he and Sam were climbing out and stretching. She followed suit, still glancing nervously at the cars stacked everywhere. She was just reaching back into the car for her bag when loud barking made her jump.

A dog had appeared and was loping towards them, barking for all it was worth. Sam's face lit up and he knelt down to let the big Rottweiler slam into him and lick his face.

"That's disgusting, dude," Dean grumbled.

"This is Rumsfeld," Sam ignored his brother and looked up at Jess. "He acts all mean and ferocious, but he's really just a big teddy bear."

As if to prove his point, the dog flopped to the ground and rolled onto his back, begging for a belly rub. Jess thought that his puppy dog eyes might be slightly more convincing than Sam's, but probably not by much.

"Acts mean, but is really a big mush," Dean laughed. "Sounds just like his owner."

"I heard that, ya idjit!"

"You were supposed to," Dean's smile never wavered. If anything it got even wider at the sight of the older man coming down the porch steps.

Bobby clapped him on the shoulder and then moved to give Sam a quick hug. It was clear to Jess by the way Sam's face lit up that he hadn't seen the man in a long time.

"You boys started kidnappin' pretty girls and forcing them to ride with you now?" Bobby asked, looking to Jess. "Because that's gotta be the only way someone like her would be hanging around the likes of you two."

"Very funny, Bobby," Sam rolled his eyes. "This is my girlfriend, Jessica. Jess, this is Bobby."

"It's nice to meet you," Jess said to him. "They've told me a lot about you."

"Well, don't let that scare you away," Bobby smiled, but then turned serious. "Sam called and told me about what happened. I've been doing some diggin' and I might have some ideas. Let's go inside and we can talk it over."

"You know what it is?" Dean asked.

"What part of 'we'll talk it over inside' escaped your understanding?" Bobby glared at him.

Sam and Jess both had to bite their tongues to keep from laughing. As far as Jess had seen Dean always tried to act like the hard-ass leader of their little group, although Sam had assured her that his brother would lighten up once he got used to having them with him. Seeing Bobby cut through all of that with one sentence was pretty amusing.

"Dean, you'll take the couch," Bobby pointed. "Sam, Jess, you two will stay upstairs in Sam and Dean's old room. It ain't much, but…"

"It's great," Jess broke in. "Thank you, Bobby."

"You get yourselves settled and then make your way back down here and I'll fill you in on what I found," Bobby waved them away.

Sam led the way up the stairs and opened the door to a small room that was just as full of books as every other room in the house. As Sam made room to push the two single beds together, Jess picked up a few of the books curiously.

 _Norse Mythology…Pagan Mythology…the Bible…_ Jess smiled a little. If the rest of the books piled all over the house were anything like these, it was no wonder Sam and Dean had said that Bobby was the go-to hunter for just about everything. She set the books down and waited while Sam finished putting the beds together.

"Ready to go back down?" she asked when he straightened up.

"Hang on a second," Sam caught her around the waist and pulled her close. "We haven't had any time to just the two of us since all of this started. How are you holding up?"

"Okay," she shrugged, playing with one of the buttons on his shirt. "It's all still really new, so it'll just take some getting used to."

"I swear, we're going to get whatever this thing is as soon as we can," Sam leaned down to rest his forehead against hers. "Then you and I can head back to school and pick our lives back up where they left off."

"But…" Jess hesitated. "Even if we get whatever this is, aren't there plenty of other things out there to hunt?"

"Yeah, of course," Sam shrugged. "We're not the only hunters out there, though. Once we get this thing I still want to go back to my original goal of a normal life. If something comes to me I'll take care of it, but I don't want to go looking for it anymore."

"You guys save a lot of lives, though," Jess stepped back. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't want a normal life, and I'm still new to all of this, but it kind of seems like once you're in this you're in it for life. Even knowing as little as I do about it, I don't know that I can just go back to school and pretend like I don't know what's out there."

"I did it for four years," Sam reminded her. "It's not easy, but it beats a hunter's life. I'm looking at the bigger picture. As a lawyer I'm looking at a life, a family, and a career. As a hunter I'm looking at crappy motel rooms, bad food, and monsters. Plus, the added incentive of a shorter than average life span that comes standard for just about every hunter."

"I have five nieces and nephews. Monsters are a given in either life, whether you get them in creature form or as cranky toddlers," Jess said with a smile. "Besides, you don't necessarily know that you're going to have a short life span. There's your dad and Bobby and they don't seem like they're going anywhere anytime soon."

"We don't know that my dad is still alive," Sam reminded her. "One text a week ago doesn't mean that he's okay. Especially not coming from a man who could barely work the phone enough to make a call, let alone a text. You know what? We need to stop talking about this. This life…it's no way to live. I can't let you do that to yourself, Jess."

"Can't _let me_?" Jess's eyes flashed dangerously. "Samuel Winchester you did not seriously just say that to me."

"No, I didn't mean it like that," Sam backpedaled. "I just mean I love you too much to see you go this direction. The fact is that hunters usually live fast and hard and die young. There are occasional exceptions, but not often. It's next to impossible to get out, but I almost did and I want to go back to that."

"The issue I'm having is the thought of sitting around getting a normal life while people are being killed by things we could've stopped," Jess argued.

"You really do fit right in," Sam ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "I can't tell you how many times I've had this exact argument with my dad and brother. Just because I want out of this part of the life doesn't mean I don't want to help at all. Hunters generally have to use a lot of less than legal methods for things. Most of the time they either don't get caught or manage to get out if they do, but occasionally there are times where one will get into some sort of trouble he can't get out of on his own. As a lawyer I'd be able to help with those cases. I could also get someone who's good with computers to help me set up some sort of program to try and track strange deaths and weird occurrences. There's a lot I can do and still manage to have a normal life at the same time."

"Come on, Sam," Jess said, all of the tension draining out of her voice. "Do you really think that's how it's going to go?"

"Why not?" he asked. "Just because it hasn't happened yet, as far as I know, doesn't mean that it can't happen. Can we please not argue? I'm sorry for bringing this up. I just want a few minutes to spend alone with you."

"I'm sorry too," Jess moved back towards him and let him wrap her up in his arms. "I'm tired and stressed because this is all new and I'm dealing with it by being a bitch."

"You're dealing with it a hell of a lot better than most people," Sam told her. "We don't tell a lot of people, but the ones that we do tell generally don't take it anywhere near as well as you are."

"Most people don't have an amazing boyfriend who can help them with this whole acceptance thing, though," Jess smiled up at him.

"Well there is that," Sam joked lightly as he leaned down to kiss her. He started to deepen the kiss, to actually really kiss her properly like he hadn't been able to do all week.

"Hey, you two!" Dean called from the bottom of the stairs, making them both jump. "Get your clothes back on and get down here already. Bobby's still got something to show us."

"I'll kill him," Sam growled.

"You're not going to kill him. Come on," Jess stood on her toes to give him a quick peck and then headed down the stairs.

"About time," Dean was still standing at the bottom of the stairs with an open beer in one hand and two unopened ones in the other. He offered the unopened beers to Sam and Jess. "Or should I have brought cigarettes instead?"

"Dean!" Sam lunged for him. "Dammit, stop being so immature!"

"You two knuckleheads cut it out," Bobby yelled from the study. "Get in here so I can show you this."

The three young hunters walked over to where Bobby was sitting on his desk with an open book in his hand. Jess couldn't see the title of the book but she could see a weird symbol on the page that Bobby had the book opened to.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to it.

"Devil's trap," Bobby answered. "You use it for trappin' demons. Get a demon in one of these and he's stuck. No powers, nothing."

"Wait, demons?" Dean asked. "Why are you reading about demons, Bobby?"

"Because ya idjit, that's what you're looking for," Bobby held up a hand to stop the questions he knew were coming. "Based on what your Daddy's told me about the night your Mom was killed and what you boys told me about the night Jess was attacked, I'm sure it's a demon. Flickering lights and sulfur are two big things to watch for if you think you're dealing with a demon."

"Both of which happened at the apartment," Sam's arm snaked around Jess's waist and she let him pull her closer. It still bothered the both of them to think about that night.

"And the night Mom died," Dean said. "Demons, though…that's not our usual thing. I dealt with one once, but I was on a hunt with Dad, so I didn't have much to do with it. What can you tell us so we can get ready to go hunt that evil son of a bitch down?"

"I can tell you plenty about demons," Bobby said, looking at Dean calmly. "There's nothing I can tell you right now, though. This demon isn't your general, run of the mill demon. It's stronger. I don't know why, but I know that it is."

"So tell us what you know about demons in general then," Dean snapped.

"No," the same calm tone of voice. "If I tell you about demons you're gonna go looking for this thing and get all three of you killed."

"Come on, Bobby," Dean rolled his eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, boy," Bobby's calm snapped. "Take a breath and think about it. You and Sam have been hunting your whole lives, but Sam's been out of it for four years. That's a long time for a hunter to not be using those skills, so he's gonna be rusty. You also have a brand new hunter with you. She's never done this before. You'd be going into that fight blind, with backup that isn't ready for it, and you would all wind up dead."

"He's right, Dean," Sam pointed out. "I want to find this thing just as bad as you do, but it's not going to do us any good to get ourselves killed. We came here to Bobby's to teach Jess some things, so let's stick with the plan. I'll work on some stuff that I need to brush up on, too. Let's make sure we're ready before we go after it."

Dean nodded his agreement, but still slammed out the door and headed for the garage. Bobby always had plenty of cars that needed to be fixed and tinkering with cars was a great stress reliever for him.

"He'll come back in when he's ready," Sam said. "Bobby, does Dad know that it's a demon?"

"He should," Bobby snorted. "He's been huntin' the damn thing for the last couple months."

"This demon is why he went missing?" Sam was quickly getting angry. "Typical John. God forbid he actually tells us that he's going after the thing that killed Mom. You know, if he'd said something and gotten our help we might have been able to stop this damn demon before it got to Jess!"

"Take it easy, Sam," Bobby scolded. "Your Daddy is doing what he thinks is right. There's more to this than you or I know."

"Right," he snorted. "Like I said, typical John. Giving out information on some crap need to know basis. I know we butted heads and I didn't agree with him a lot, but what he did could have something to do with why it went after Jess and that's something I can't forgive. If we happen to run into him while we're hunting it then I'll work with him, but I'm done."

"Sam," Jess put a hand on his arm. "He's your dad. I know you're mad at him, but give yourself a second. Look at me, I'm fine. You were there to stop it."

"What if I hadn't been?" Sam asked. "I can't even think about what I would've done, how I would've felt if we hadn't gotten there in time. If it'd taken just a little longer to finish with that job in Jericho, or if Dean and I had stopped for that beer there instead of coming home…"

He couldn't finish. He had a brief mental image of himself in the front seat of the Impala, exhausted from lack of sleep, bags under his red and irritated eyes, searching for a job or anything that would take his mind off of his loss. He shuddered and pushed that image away fast.

"We can spend our time arguing the what if's of the situation or we can spend our time talking about what kind of stuff you guys are planning to teach me while we're here," Jess's considerable patience was running thin. "If you want to play the what if game, though, you might as well go find your brother and play it with him."

Bobby raised an eyebrow at her approvingly. The tiny girl standing next to his adopted nephew had just done something he wouldn't have believed if he hadn't seen it himself. In all the years he'd known Sam, the youngest Winchester had never let someone talk to him that way without snapping back. With Jess, he just bowed his head and looked embarrassed at his outburst.

"So, um, what Dean's probably going to want to start with is shooting," when Sam spoke again all the anger was gone from his voice. "Pistol and shotgun, because those are the two we use the most. Back at Stanford you told me that you talked your dad into taking you to a gun range one time, right?"

"A couple of times, actually," Jess remembered. "Not very many, but I think maybe three? We had a pistol and I remember being pretty good with it. I've never shot a shotgun before, though."

"That's not a big deal," Sam waved that away. "There's a bit more room for error with a shotgun because it scatters. We shouldn't have to spend too much time on that, then. We should also work on some hand to hand fighting and lock picking."

"Picking locks?" Jess asked.

"Remember when I said that hunters usually have to resort to illegal methods to do things?" Sam looked down sheepishly. "And then I said they usually manage to get out of it? Well…I mean, that's not all that it's used for. There have been times we've needed to pick a lock to a door we couldn't kick down or a padlock on something. Either way, it comes in handy."

"Dean's going to want to work on awareness, too," Bobby pointed out.

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Being aware of what's around you at all times, scanning a room as soon as you walk in, things like that. I think those are the basics. The really important stuff are all things you can't teach. They're just things that come from experience."

"Do we have to wait until tomorrow to start?" Jess asked. "It's almost dark out there, so obviously we can't go to the range and I doubt Bobby wants us fighting inside, but what about the lock picking? Can you start teaching me tonight?"

"The sooner we get started the sooner we can start hunting this thing," Sam shrugged. "Okay."

"Don't you go practicing on my doors," Bobby grumbled, tossing a plain padlock at Sam. "I'm gonna go out there and check on Dean. See what he thinks he's fixin' this time."

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

"Turn and bring your arm up at the same time," Sam coached. "There you go. Watch your profile. Make yourself as small of a target as you can."

They'd been at Bobby's for two weeks now, and Jess had proven herself more than capable of using both the pistol and shotgun accurately within the first few days. They'd quickly moved on to the hand to hand fighting and awareness training, which she was also picking up on quickly. At first Sam had automatically assumed he would be the one sparring with Jess and Dean would coach them, but Dean had disabused him of _that_ notion pretty damn quick.

"You two will spar eventually," he'd said. "But while she's still learning, you're on the sidelines. You're gonna go too easy on her and she won't learn."

"I just want to protect her," Sam had said.

"I know that, believe me, and I know that feeling," Dean had smiled and looked at him a little sadly. "Why do you think Dad wouldn't let me train you to fight? If you really want to protect Jess, let me be the one to teach her."

So here he was, standing at the edge of the grassy area they used for training, watching Jess's form and technique and helping to fine tune it. Every time Dean managed to land a hit, which was pretty often, he cringed and felt a moment of anger at his brother. Rationally he knew Dean wasn't actually going to hurt Jess, but it wasn't that rational part of his mind that reacted when he saw his girlfriend get hit.

Jess was actually holding her own fairly well today. At least she thought she was until she blocked a swing only to realize a split second too late that it had been a distraction. Dean had hooked a foot around behind her ankle and when she blocked him he'd turned it into a shove, buckling her ankle with his foot and landing her in the dirt yet again.

"Gotta be aware of your surroundings," Dean reminded her for the millionth time that day alone. "You're doing well, but you have to be able to judge when you should block and when you should evade. Why don't we take a few minutes?"

"Yes please," she hadn't moved yet.

Dean left her side and disappeared into the house, and a moment later Sam came and sat next to her.

"You okay?" he asked, concern written all over his face.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I'm going to be black and blue _everywhere_ tomorrow, but I'm fine. This is stuff I need to learn. I just wish I was better."

"Don't let him fool you," Sam told her. "You're doing great, especially for this being your first time doing most of this. Don't let the fact that you can't take him down discourage you. Nine times out of ten I still can't take him down and I've been fighting him since I was eight."

"Well that's just not fair," Jess laughed. "So when is it your turn out here, anyway?"

"To fight Dean or to work with you?" Sam smiled. "I don't know. Whenever Dean says it is, I guess. He's worried I'm going to go too easy on you, so we probably won't be fighting for a little while yet. I'm most likely going to get my turn to fight him soon, though. Much as I hate to admit it, I'm still a little rusty on this stuff myself, and I'm already black and blue everywhere. He doesn't go nearly as easy on me as he has on you."

"You call this easy?" Jess asked. She knew that it was, though. Dean wasn't necessarily being gentle with her, but she knew that he was going easy. The difference between the way he fought her and the way he fought Sam was easily distinguishable.

She'd only seen Sam use his skills once in the three years she'd known him. Once was more than enough for her to realize just how dangerous he could potentially be though, and she suspected that Dean was even more so. She and Sam had been at a bar near campus and three guys had gotten way too drunk. She'd gone to the bathroom and when she came out they were walking down the little hallway that the bathrooms were off of. They'd seen her alone and had decided she'd be an easy target. One yell for Sam had brought him running. She'd always sworn it had taken him less than a second to take in what was happening and react, and now that she knew what kind of training he had she was sure of it. He'd taken all three of them out in less than a minute. He'd broken his hand at some point during the fight, and while they were at the hospital getting it set she'd overheard the nurses talking about the three drunk guys. All three had concussions, one had a broken cheekbone and nose, and another was probably going to need reconstructive surgery for his eye socket. The nurses had been of the opinion that the drunk guys deserved all of that and more, and thankfully the police had been inclined to agree since Sam had been defending her.

The two of them sat in comfortable silence for the next minute or two. That was just one of many things Jess loved about their relationship. They could talk and joke with each other, but they were also so completely comfortable in each other's presence that they didn't need to be constantly talking.

Jess felt like she was only just starting to catch her breath when Dean came back out of the house carrying two bottles of water and a piece of paper. He seemed to be looking pretty intently at the piece of paper.

"Ready to get started again?" Dean asked. He handed one of the bottles of water to her and the paper to Sam.

"Not really," Jess took one more deep breath and stood anyway.

"Dean, is this a job?" there was a warning note in Sam's voice that caused Jess to look up at him with concern.

"Gold star, Sammy," Dean smirked. "Two towns over. A guy was strangled to death in his house. All windows and doors were locked and the alarm was still on."

"It's Sam. Sounds like a ghost, or maybe a poltergeist," Sam glanced down at the paper again. "But why does this concern us?"

"Gee, I don't know," Dean rolled his eyes. "Maybe because this is what we do?"

"Yeah I get that," Sam said. "We're not ready to take a job yet, though. Jess needs more time."

"Then I'll go by myself," Dean said. "Shouldn't take more than a day or two."

"If it does turn out to be a poltergeist you're going to need backup," Sam reminded him. "Going on a hunt alone is just stupid anyway. What about Bobby? Can he go with you?

"He's working on some research for another hunter," Dean shook his head. "He didn't go into too much detail, but it sounded like he's gonna be busy for at least a couple of days with that."

"Well you shouldn't do this alone," Sam argued.

"You two come with me then," Dean suggested. "I'm pretty sure that Jess can handle sitting in the car while we ask a few questions and then do a quick salt and burn."

"Excuse me? Sit in the car?" Jess raised an eyebrow. "What am I, some toddler you can just throw in the backseat and say 'stay here while the adults handle this'?"

"No, but you're not ready for a hunt yet," Dean said. "If we knew for sure it was just a plain old ghost then I'd consider it, but a poltergeist is more dangerous because it's more violent. Not a first hunt type of job."

"Then why don't we head over there and find out for sure one way or another?" Jess said, eyes still showing a clear warning. "It's only two towns over so it's not like it'll be a long trip. If it's a ghost I can help, but if it turns out to be a poltergeist I'll hang back."

"Jess..." the stress in Sam's voice was clear. "This isn't a good idea. Even if it is just a ghost, that doesn't mean that it's going to be simple. Sometimes it's the easy hunts where you let your guard down and they turn out to be more dangerous than the complicated ones."

"Are you saying that you're going to let your guard down while I'm on my first hunt with you guys?" Jess asked.

"No, but…I just mean…I don't think…" Sam couldn't seem to decide quite what to say.

"Dude," there was laughter in Dean's eyes, but he didn't quite let it out. "This is the point where you shut up."

"Fine," Sam glared at Dean. "But I swear to god, Dean, if she gets hurt because you can't handle taking a couple of weeks off I will kick your ass."

"She won't get hurt, and I'd like to see you try," Dean actually did laugh this time. "We still have an hour or two to finish up here before we leave. The guy lived alone, so we can just break into the house after it gets dark and take a look around before we have to start asking questions. We'll have to get Jess a couple of fake ID's and some fed clothes soon."

Jess shifted uncomfortably. Sam and Dean had told her that they regularly posed as FBI, or US Marshalls, or any number of other things to get into places and ask questions. She just wasn't sure if she was ready to jump into something quite that illegal yet. The most illegal thing she'd ever done up to this point was get a speeding ticket and now they were talking about her impersonating an FBI agent like it was nothing.

"Why don't I take over?" Sam had noticed the change in her. "I still need some practice before we head out and you've been training hard."

"I still wanted to work on…" Dean started, but was quickly cut off.

"Enough is enough for one day, Dean," Sam interrupted. He was irritated enough with his brother about the upcoming hunt, and now Dean was ignoring some pretty clear signs that Jess needed some time to collect herself before they left. "Besides, you're the one who keeps whining that I'm out of shape."

"That's because you are," Dean teased. "And I don't whine."

"Sure you do," Sam said. Without any more warning, he lashed out and twisted one of Dean's arms behind his back in a hold. "How's that for out of shape?"

Dean just laughed. Sam really was rusty. He was standing far too close and was lined up square instead of staggering his feet. If this had been a real fight all Dean would've had to do was snap his head back and Sam would be knocked on his butt with a broken nose. Instead, he swung his other arm around, elbowed Sam in the ribs, and twisted away.

Jess looked on amused as the boys, who she'd started to affectionately thinking of as 'her boys', fought. She'd seen them practice over the past two weeks, and it never ceased to amaze her how natural they seemed to be at it. When she fought, it always felt forced, like she had to think about what to do next but with the brothers, it was second nature. She knew that shouldn't come as a surprise, seeing as how they had been doing this pretty much their entire lives, but it still amazed her.

An hour passed before any of them even knew it. Both Sam and Dean had quickly become covered in sweat and had stripped their shirts off (which Jess had fully appreciated). The lack of shirts had made it abundantly clear how irritated Sam was, though. Both brothers had bruises forming as they went harder on each other than they had up to now.

As she watched, Sam threw yet another punch. Dean dodged it and snagged his wrist, using Sam's momentum to put him in an arm bar and throw him roughly to the ground. He quickly tried to roll to his feet but Dean was already on him, trying to pin his arms. Sam managed to catch one of Dean's arms and trap one leg. With a twist, he threw Dean off balance and flipped him so that their positions were reversed. Dean again grabbed one of Sam's arms, locked the younger man's elbow, and tossed him away.

Jess glanced at her watch as Sam rolled away and Dean got to his feet and she decided to head back to the house and get a quick shower before they needed to leave. She was starting to get the feeling that she wasn't going to be able to get them to stop anytime soon, and had the further feeling that Bobby had a way to get through to them.

"You three gettin' ready to head out?" Bobby asked from his desk as she let herself in.

"Sort of," she'd come to love and respect Bobby a lot over the last two weeks. It wasn't hard to understand why her boys loved him so much. "I came in to get a shower, but I think it might take some convincing to get them to stop. Sam is pretty upset that Dean found a hunt."

"A hunt?" Bobby looked up sharply. "What hunt?"

"Something about either a ghost or a poltergeist two towns over," Jess told him.

"Dammit!" Bobby got up and started digging through the papers he'd moved from the couch to the floor yesterday to make room for Dean. "I planned on going on that hunt myself until Greg called me asking what I knew about vetalas. Meant to get another hunter on it."

"Vetalas?" Jess asked. She couldn't recall having ever heard of those before.

"Nasty things as far as I can tell," Bobby answered. "Need to do some more research before I can be completely sure what they are. Damn. I guess Dean managed to find that page I printed out on that guy's death."

"He thinks it's probably going to be an easy enough hunt," Jess shrugged. "I convinced him to let me come along. They made me promise to stay out of the way if it turns out to be a poltergeist, but Sam's still pretty mad at him for taking the case in the first place."

"I don't blame him," Bobby looked almost as irritated as Sam. "Damn fool should know better than to take a new hunter on a hunt where he's not a hundred percent sure of what it is."

"I'll be okay, Bobby," she reassured him. "Right now I'm more worried about them being okay if they don't cut it out soon."

"Damn idjits," Bobby muttered. "Go get your shower. I'll get `em straightened out."

Jess started up the stairs and laughed as she saw Bobby storm out the door. She felt slightly bad for ratting them out to Bobby, but she hadn't really seen another option.

Bobby, on the other hand, was more pissed than he'd let on to Jess. He'd seen some kind of blowout coming between the boys, but he'd hoped they would manage to settle it without getting out of hand. One look was enough to tell him that things had gone way past the point of 'out of hand' though.

The boys had gone from grappling and training to all-out fighting in the time Jess had been gone. Dean was sporting a split lip and Sam had a small cut on his cheek that had probably been caused by Dean's ring. Bobby knew he had to stop them before they did any more damage to each other.

"Boys! Front and center!" he roared, while simultaneously grabbing Sam's arm and hauling him backwards. He knew that Dean was likely to immediately obey the order, but he also knew that Sam was just as likely to ignore it.

"What the hell, Bobby!" Sam yelled.

"What the hell is right," Bobby gave the younger boy a shake. "Why did your girlfriend have to come and tell me that you two yahoos were beatin' the hell out of each other out here?"

"We were just training," Sam tried sheepishly.

"Just training my ass," Bobby shoved him in the direction of the house and then turned on Dean. "Would you like to tell me why you're taking on a hunt, with a new hunter, when you don't know what you're hunting?!"

"Come on, Bobby," Dean grabbed his shirt and wiped the sweat off of his face with it. "You know as well as I do that it's either a ghost or poltergeist. If it's a ghost it's a simple salt and burn, and that'll be perfect for Jess's first hunt."

"And if it's a poltergeist you're likely to need a purification ritual instead of a simple salt and burn," Bobby reminded him. "A purification ritual that usually winds up pissing the thing off and havin' it trying to kill you."

"We made Jess promise to stay in the car if it's a poltergeist," Dean and Bobby started making their way back to the house behind Sam. "Seriously, Bobby, I'm not stupid."

"Well you coulda fooled me!" Bobby shouted. "You better hope she comes back here in one piece or you're gonna have more than just your brother to answer to."

"Getting attached already?" Dean teased, clearly not having the common sense to keep his mouth shut.

"Damn right I am," Bobby grumbled. "Get your ass in gear."

Thirty minutes later, Dean was checking the weapons in the trunk one last time. All three young hunters were freshly showered and, after a stern order from Jessica, he and Sam had awkwardly apologized to each other. Satisfied that everything was ready, he slammed the trunk and leaned against it to wait for Sam and Jess. They came out a moment later, with Bobby giving last minute instructions to Jess about the hunt and last minute orders to Sam to keep Jess safe.

"You three be careful out there," Bobby ordered as they piled into the car. "Anything goes sideways, and I mean anything at all, you get out of there and I'll put another hunter on it."

"I think we can probably handle a ghost, Bobby," Dean looked up at the older man's face and sighed. "Alright. I swear if anything goes wrong we'll bail. Try to control your mother henning before we get back, huh?"

"That boy just don't know when to shut his mouth," Bobby stressed as he watched them drive away. He didn't know why, but he had a really bad feeling about the hunt. Something just didn't feel right about the ghost or poltergeist theories, even though all signs pointed to it being one or the other. His hunter instincts wouldn't quit insisting that there was something else going on, though. "Those boys just better take care of that little girl."

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _Okay, so I had actually planned to include Jess's first hunt in this chapter to get a little bit of action in there, but it was really starting to get long. I'm sorry for another less-than-exciting chapter and promise I'll get the next chapter written and posted as soon as I can and it will have more action than these first two. I'm enjoying developing the characters and figuring out the dynamic with Jess thrown in, though and hope all of you are as well._

 _A couple of fun facts: the salmon pink living room is actually taken from real life events. When my husband and I bought our house, the previous owners had the living room painted the most hideous shade of salmon pink and you can bet that was the first thing to go. Also, I have a decent amount of weapons and advanced hand to hand combat training myself, being prior military, so the moves described in the training between Dean/Jess and Dean/Sam are all basic descriptions of moves I've been trained in._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! I absolutely cannot express just how grateful I am for the support. Opening up my email and seeing that I have a new review brightens my whole day. This chapter picks up right where Chapter 2 left off and Jess is finally on her first hunt with the boys. Will it be a simple ghost hunt, a more complicated poltergeist, or will Bobby's fears of something more going on be true? Looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of the newest installation. I also wanted to say that I am more than open to suggestions on things you'd like to see in further chapters. I have a very basic outline of where I'm going with this story, but nothing's set in stone so if there's something you'd like to see, I'd love to hear it! Hope you all enjoy and thank you again for the amazing reviews!

 **Triggers:** This chapter _finally_ has some action in it. With that action I wanted to add in a warning though. There is some violence depicted and Sam kind of bears the brunt of it (making up for beating on poor Dean in my last story, I guess). I don't think it's overly graphic, but I wanted everyone to be aware that there is violence in case it is a trigger for anyone.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _Bobby stressed as he watched them drive away. He didn't know why, but he had a really bad feeling about the hunt. Something just didn't feel right about the ghost or poltergeist theories, even though all signs pointed to it being one or the other. His hunter instincts wouldn't quit insisting that there was something else going on, though. "Those boys just better take care of that little girl."_

"It's not gonna be full dark for about another hour yet," Dean said as they pulled into Valley Springs, South Dakota. "Let's get something to eat first."

Neither Sam nor Jess had an issue with that, considering they'd all managed to forget about lunch. So Dean pulled the Impala into the first diner parking lot that they came to. The two younger hunters shared a disgusted look at the dingy-looking diner while Dean, either completely oblivious to or possibly just ignoring the looks, headed in.

"Are we ever going to eat somewhere that _doesn't_ feel the need to deep fry everything?" Jess wondered.

"Not likely," Sam told her. "It might literally make Dean's head explode to consider eating at a café or someplace with healthy food. Believe me, I've tried to get him to see the benefits of eating something other than burgers, pizza, and fried chicken."

"Two against one now," Jess pointed out as they linked hands and followed Dean into the diner.

"My brother is stubborn enough for ten," Sam laughed, sliding into the diner booth across from him.

"I liked you better as a chubby kid who didn't talk back," Dean glared.

"I never didn't talk back," Sam reminded him, still grinning. "I was talking back from the minute you taught me how to talk."

"Aren't I regretting that now," Dean mused. "Should've convinced you that you were a mute. Would've made my life a hell of a lot easier."

"Yours and Dad's both," Sam agreed. "Well shoulda, coulda, woulda. Too late to change it now."

"You know, you're even more obnoxious now than before you left for college," Dean informed him crankily. "Just how many debate classes did you take?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Jess laughed. "No one ever wanted to be the unlucky one assigned to debate him. He always had ten miles' worth of research done."

"Hey!" Sam protested. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side!"

"You kids ready to order or would you like a few more minutes?" the matronly waitress came over, not even bothering to hide her amused smile at the banter between the three youngsters sitting at her table.

"I'm ready," Dean looked at Sam and Jess, who both nodded their agreement.

Dean ordered his usual double cheeseburger with extra onions while Sam and Jess both ordered salads. The waitress gave them one more smile and headed for the kitchen. Although they'd done nothing but bicker from the moment they'd walked in, it was clear that the three of them had a special bond. Something that caused them to be closer than most and she'd liked them on sight.

"When we get to that house, I want you to stay in the car until we figure out what we're dealing with," Dean said to Jess while they waited for their food.

"I don't think so," Jess argued. "The deal was I would get to come on this hunt and if it turns out to be a poltergeist _then_ I'll wait in the car. You can't baby me just because I'm new to this. I have to learn somehow and experience is the best teacher."

Even though they were speaking quietly, the diner was pretty full and the two women in the next booth over shot them a strange look. Dean glanced up at them nervously and leaned over the table so they could speak even more quietly.

"If it's a poltergeist then the minute we start poking at it, it's most likely going to come after us," he told her. "As far as spirits go, these things are about the furthest thing from friendly as you can get."

"There has to be a first time for everything," Jess wasn't giving in on this. "The sooner I can get some experience under my belt, the sooner we can go after that demon."

"Jess, I don't know…" Sam started.

"Don't," Jess warned. "I know you want to keep me safe and I love you for that, but I'm in this just as much as you two are. You've given me the skills to get started. Let me use them."

"Here we go, honey," the waitress came back with their food before either of them had a chance to argue any more. Misinterpreting Dean's scowl as an objection to what she'd said, she quickly added, "Please don't be offended. I just naturally call anyone under the age of forty honey."

"It's not you," Sam assured her, giving the kind woman his trademark dimpled smile. "My brother and I are just having a bit of a…disagreement with my girlfriend about something."

"Well, take it from an old woman who's been married for over thirty years," she smiled. "The key to a healthy, lasting relationship is finding a compromise during a disagreement. Give and take."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll remember that," Sam put his arm around Jess and pulled her closer.

"Fine," Dean gave in as the waitress walked away. He knew that with both Sam and Jess's formidable wills against him, he wasn't winning this argument. "We'll compromise, then. We all go in together, but we stay together. No one wanders off on their own."

"Dean, the search will go a lot faster if Jess and I take one section of the house and you take another," Sam reminded him.

"That's the offer on the table," Dean picked up his burger and started eating, signaling that he was done talking.

"I guess we're all sticking together, then," Jess was willing to agree to that.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

"What the hell, dude?" three hours later Dean felt like they'd gone over every inch of the damn house with a fine tooth comb.

All three of them had breathed a sigh of relief when they'd entered the house and things didn't immediately start being thrown violently at their heads. They'd stayed cautiously optimistic as they patrolled the house with the EMF meter and everything not nailed down stayed in place. Now they were just frustrated, as there hadn't been so much as a single whine from the meter.

"I don't know," Sam shrugged. "What kind of ghost or poltergeist doesn't leave EMF?"

"Maybe we missed something?" Jess suggested.

"There's no way," Dean grunted in irritation and tucked the EMF meter away. "We've checked every room in the house. Something's just not adding up."

"Then maybe it wasn't anything supernatural," Jess tried again. "Could've been someone who had keys and access to the alarm code for the house."

"Possible, but we don't usually get that lucky," Sam looked distracted as he wracked his brain for some other explanation. A bad feeling was creeping its way into his brain, telling him that they were missing something important. "I'm gonna go out and get the other EMF meter. With power lines this close we should've gotten something. Maybe this one is just dead."

"No way," Dean was immediately defensive. "I checked it the other day and it was working fine."

"That doesn't mean something couldn't have happened between now and then," Sam said diplomatically. "It'll take me two minutes to get the other one from the trunk. I'll be right back."

"So much for worrying that my first hunt was going to turn out to be complicated," Jess tried to lighten the mood as Sam left.

"Maybe," Dean was non-committal. "Sam's right, though. We don't usually get that lucky."

"Maybe I'm just good luck, then," Jess grinned, finally getting a small chuckle out of him.

"Considering the fact that you got Bobby wrapped around your finger so quickly, I'm almost willing to believe that maybe you are some sort of good luck charm," Dean laughed.

The two of them chatted amiably about nothing in particular for a minute. Finally, Dean glanced at his watch.

"Where the hell is Sam?" he asked, storming towards the door. "It doesn't take this long to get a damn EMF meter and come back. I swear to god, if he moved any slower…son of a bitch!"

Jess stood frozen in place for a moment while Dean raced over to Sam. She hadn't known exactly what she'd expected to see but it certainly wasn't her boyfriend curled up, half in the front seat, choking, with blood pouring from his mouth.

"Sammy!" Dean cradled Sam's head, as if he could determine what was wrong just by touching him.

"Dean," Sam choked out through mouthfuls of blood. "My stomach…god, feels like…my insides are…being torn apart."

"What do we do?" Jess appeared next to them, having shaken off the shock that had left her frozen. She rubbed Sam's back in soothing circles, knowing that it wasn't enough, but needing to do something. She didn't remember Sam or Dean telling her about anything that could do something like this. Of course, with as freaked out as she was it was possible that they had and she simply couldn't get her panicked brain to focus.

Dean knew he couldn't afford to hesitate, but dammit Sammy was his responsibility! It was his job to make sure his baby brother didn't get hurt and he was failing spectacularly at that right now. Another choke brought him back to the present.

"Witch!" he shouted. "Jess, look around for a hex bag. Look in the seats, under the floor mats, anywhere even remotely big enough to hide one."

Jess and Dean both sprang into action, Jess digging through the backseat while Dean ripped through the front. Both fervently hoped that Dean was right. Sam was clearly weakening and they couldn't afford to be wrong on this.

"I don't see anything," Jess frantically threw one of the floor mats aside.

"Keep looking!" Dean ordered. "It has to be here somewhere!"

He didn't bother to glance back to see if Jess was listening. Sam was still curled up with blood coming from his mouth, but he wasn't writhing around or choking anymore. Dean knew that was a bad sign. It meant that whatever the witch was doing to him was about to be over in a very permanent way.

"Come on, come on," Dean reached a hand up under the dashboard. It was the only place he hadn't looked yet.

For a heart-wrenching second he thought that was going to be a dead end too and had just enough time to feel like the biggest failure in the world. Then, the tips of his fingers brushed across something. He ripped it out from under the dash and quickly pulled his lighter out of his pocket. He lit the damned thing on fire and threw it down, praying he'd been in time.

Jess looked on, cradling Sam's head the way Dean had a minute ago. She trembled and the few seconds it took the bag to burn felt like hours.

"Come on, Sammy," Dean whispered.

A few more seconds passed. Dean and Jess looked at each other nervously. Burning the hex bag should've been the end of it. Finally, the sound that both of them had been desperate to hear.

"It's Sam."

"Oh thank god!" Jess wanted to throw herself into Sam's arms, but even though the curse was over he was still clearly in pain.

"So, witches, huh?" Dean rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. "We've only been in this town for a couple of hours. How the hell did a witch even know we were here, let alone have time to get a hex bag into the car?"

"Got me," Sam took one more deep breath and sat up straighter. Jess was holding herself together pretty well, but he could still see how badly she'd been shaken by this. He pulled her over into his lap, tucking her head under his chin. "That explains why there was no EMF in the house, though."

"Gee, ya think?" Dean was covering his own emotions by being sarcastic, as usual. "Where do you want to start with this?"

"I want to start with getting Jess back to Bobby's," Sam glared at his brother while squeezing Jess protectively tighter. "We weren't going to let her help on this hunt if it was a poltergeist, and a witch is ten times worse. At least with a poltergeist you know where it's going to be. A witch could be anywhere and I don't want Jess to be the next one of us to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yeah, but we kinda need all the help we can get," Dean argued. "I don't want to put her in danger any more than you do, but we have no leads on this. An extra pair of eyes could make a huge difference."

"No!" Sam insisted. "Either we take her back to Bobby's together or I steal the Impala and take her back myself, and you know that if it turns out to be a coven you can't take it on yourself."

"You steal my car and what that witch did to you will seem like a happy memory," Dean warned. "Like it or not, we need Jess on this hunt."

"Well like it or not, she's not staying!" for someone who had been curled up in excruciating pain not five minutes ago, Sam was awfully determined. "So we either take her back to Bobby's now or…"

"Enough!" Jess pushed herself away from him and looked truly angry for the first time since all this had started. "I am _not_ some pawn that can just be moved around and used whenever and however you want to! Dean, accept the fact that you're not a freaking drill sergeant. Sam, accept the fact that I'm committed to this and that I am not some porcelain doll who's going to shatter the first time something happens. Now can we all act like adults here and figure out how to find this witch?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other sheepishly. Jess had a pretty amazing way of cutting right through to the heart of whatever the issue was. The more time that passed, the more Dean could see why his brother had fallen in love with her.

"We should probably start by looking for strange deaths that have happened in this town over the past year or so," Sam finally broke the silence. "Normally that's something that could be done at the library, but the library's closed by now. Our best bet is for me to get on the computer and search the local newspaper websites. If I can find some sort of pattern or radius to the attacks I might be able to pinpoint where the witch is hiding out."

"You two get going on that," Dean said. "I'm gonna give Bobby a call and see if he knows about anything weird that might've happened lately."

He walked a few steps away as Sam was reaching into the backseat for his laptop. Jess had climbed around to sit behind him and rub his shoulders soothingly. Dean suspected that was just as much for Jess's sake as Sam's, though and sighed. He really had meant for her first hunt to be easy, not proof of how easy it could be for things to go wrong at the drop of a hat.

"What took you so long," Bobby was never one to answer the phone with a simple hello. "I expected to hear from you an hour ago."

"Things didn't exactly go according to plan, Bobby," Dean told him. "It's not a ghost or a poltergeist…it's a witch. Somehow it already managed to figure out that we're in town"

"Where's your brother and Jess?"

"Both safe," Dean said quickly. "Damn witch managed to slip a hex bag into the Impala and Sammy got caught up in it, but we found and burned it, so he's okay."

"Dammit, boy," Bobby snapped. "You'd better come on back here and drop Jess off. Won't take you more than an hour to get here and back. I'll see what I can dig up while you're on the road."

"Yeah, about that Bobby," Dean shifted uncomfortably. "Jess has made it pretty clear that she's done being babied. Tore me and Sam a new one over it, to tell the truth."

"Good," Bobby couldn't help but grin. That little girl was going to straighten his boys out yet. "I don't necessarily think a witch is something she should be handling for her first hunt, but there's three of you and a lot of hunters don't get the option of easing into this life. What do you know about this witch so far?"

"Honestly, nothing," Dean admitted. "Sam's searching to see if there's been any other strange deaths in the area lately, but that's all we have to go on at this point."

"Retrace your steps," Bobby reminded him. "That witch knew you were here and it knew you were hunters. You musta stopped somewhere along the way."

"We stopped at a diner just inside town," Dean shrugged. "It was pretty crowded, so I guess someone could've overheard us."

"Well, did you talk to anyone in particular?" Bobby asked.

"No. Just the…the waitress!" Dean remembered in a flash. "She probably heard every word we said! I gotta go Bobby. Thanks. Sam! Jess!"

The couple looked up, startled. As comforting as it was to talk to Bobby and ask for his input, no one had really expected him to have answers for them.

"The waitress. At the diner," Dean didn't even wait for Jess to climb into the backseat before he jumped behind the wheel.

"What about her?" Sam asked, clutching at his computer as Dean peeled away from the house.

"The only place we stopped today was the diner and the only person we talked to at the diner was the waitress," Dean said. "She's the only one who would've known we were here."

"I don't know," Jess frowned. "She didn't exactly seem like the witch type."

"The diner was pretty packed, Dean," Sam added. "Anybody walking past could've heard something. I don't get the feeling that waitress had anything to do with this."

"You've also been out of the game for four years," Dean tried not to scowl. "For as crowded and busy as that diner was, she was hovering awfully close to us the entire time. Just because she looked like a sweet old lady doesn't mean she is one."

"Just promise me we're not going to shoot her until we know for sure if she's a witch or not," Sam pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"You take all the fun out of things, Sammy," Dean conceded. "Fine. I won't shoot her as soon as we get there, but if she makes even one wrong move…"

He let the threat hang. Sam and Jess shared a sideways glance, but neither argued. The diner was as good a place to start searching as any and Dean did have a point that it had been the only place they'd stopped. Neither of them believed that the sweet, elderly woman had anything to do with witchcraft, though.

Dean whipped the Impala into the diner parking lot a minute or two later and walked purposefully towards the door. Sam and Jess raced after him, still not completely trusting that he wouldn't shoot first and ask questions later.

"Well hi, honey!" the waitress recognized them the second they walked in. "Didn't expect to see you again quite so soon."

Dean had to grit his teeth to keep from exploding. This was the bitch who had come within seconds of killing Sammy and it wasn't something he planned to let slide. All he needed was half a chance and he'd tear her apart.

"Yeah," he managed to choke out. "We, uh, we were supposed to be just passing through, but…"

"But we have a friend who lives around here and he asked us to stick around for a day or two," Sam cut in. "He's been having some problems and we said we'd help him out."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the waitress looked concerned. Ginny, Sam finally noticed, reading her name tag.

"We were actually wondering if maybe we could ask you some questions," Jess put in. "It seems like Spring Valley is a really great, everyone knows everyone else sort of town."

"Oh, that we are," Ginny smiled. "Anything I can do to help. We've slowed down quite a bit so why don't we all sit and I can try to help as much as I can."

The four of them sat in the same booth as they had taken earlier that evening. Jess pushed Sam down on the bench next to Dean so that Ginny could slide in next to her. No matter what Dean thought, she liked the woman. Although Dean's over-protectiveness of Sam (and her at a continually increasing rate) was admirable, it made him too likely to pass judgement instead of really thinking about the situation.

"What's your friend's problem?" Ginny asked once they were all seated.

"It's kind of a weird one," Sam admitted, taking over before Dean could. He was always better at getting information out of people tactfully anyway. "His brother passed away last week, and the cops think it was just a break-in gone wrong, but he's convinced it was something else."

"You're talking about Paul," Ginny said sadly. "What a shame. Such a good man."

"Our friend said that Paul isn't the only one to have died in an odd way lately," Jess said. "He said that there have been others around here dying in accidents that seem normal at first, but don't really make sense once you look into them."

For a second they didn't think Ginny was going to answer them. The way she wrung her hands told them that she probably knew something, though.

"Your friend is right," she finally sighed. "Things have been a little weird around here recently. There haven't been a lot of 'accidents', but in a town this small even a few stand out. Three so far."

"Is there anything that the victims have in common?" Dean asked grudgingly. Even he was starting to doubt that the waitress was responsible for what was going on.

"Only that they were all regulars here," Ginny looked ready to cry. "Paul, Julia, and Nick were all loners, but I could count on seeing all three of them at some point every day."

"Is there anyone in particular who might've had a grudge against them?" Dean asked. "For any reason at all. Even if it was small."

"No. Nothing I can think of, anyway," Ginny said. "All three of them tended to come across as a bit…standoff-ish sometimes, but they were all very introverted. Once you got to know them they were amazing people."

As Ginny dabbed her eyes with a napkin Jess patted her hand comfortingly and Sam and Dean shared a look. They both knew that a lot of supernatural creatures and beings could hold a grudge for reasons much less than what the waitress had just told them.

"Was there anyone in particular who might've misinterpreted something they said or did lately?" Jess asked gently.

"Like you said, we're a small town where everyone knows everyone else," Ginny said. "I suppose the only ones who no one really knows yet are the two young women who moved here, oh about two months ago now. Sisters."

"About two months ago?" Dean repeated. "So, just a couple of weeks before the attacks started?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Ginny looked at him, concerned. "I don't think those girls could've had anything to do with this, though. They're really absolute sweethearts."

"Do they come in here a lot, too?" Sam asked.

"All the time!" Ginny chirped. "Several times a week for dinner, actually. They were here tonight at the same time as you three were, come to think of it. Sitting in the next booth over from you."

Sam and Jess looked confused, not remembering the women, but both wore similar expressions. They'd been talking about hunting, and someone sitting in the next booth over wouldn't have had a hard time hearing them. Dean, on the other hand, had a thunderous look on his face. He remembered the two women and the look they'd given him, and cursed himself for not realizing it earlier.

"Do you by any chance know where these women live?" he tried to control his rage. "Just so we can ask them if maybe they know anything?"

"You said you were friends of Paul's brother?" Ginny asked nervously.

"Yeah. I'm a cop with the Sioux Falls PD, though," Dean lied. "Paul's brother told us that the cops around here had the deaths chalked up to burglaries, but he thought there was something more going on. I told him I'd look into it for him. My brother and his girlfriend just came with me to visit."

"They moved into the old Taylor place, over on Hartford Street," Ginny motioned. "It's the next street over that way. Big white Victorian house."

"Thank you very much for your time, ma'am," Dean said respectfully, pushing Sam to get up.

"Promise me you three will be careful!" Ginny raised an eyebrow at them as she clutched Jess's hand. "I may be old and look like a pushover, but I know when I'm being lied to. I'm not asking you to explain, just promise me you'll look out for one another."

"We will," Dean promised. "And…I'm sorry."

"For what, honey?" now Ginny was confused.

"No reason," Dean ducked his head, ashamed to admit that he'd been so convinced she was behind all of this. "Thank you."

Since they were only going a few blocks, the three hunters chose to leave the Impala in the diner's parking lot rather than risking having it tampered with again by the witches. They all checked to make sure their weapons were loaded, Jess having been given her own pistol when she proved how well she could handle it, and set off. Only minutes later they found themselves standing in front of the old Victorian.

"At least it fits my idea of a house that witches would live in," Jess muttered.

"Alright," Dean squared his shoulders. "Before we go, Jess, you have to be prepared for this."

"Dean…" Jess rolled her eyes.

"I get it, you can handle yourself," Dean cut her off, putting a hand up. "You need to be prepared for the fact that these women are just that. They're women. Not some evil, scary looking monster. They're just as dangerous as anything else out there, but ultimately they're pretty much human."

Jess touched the gun in her waistband nervously. She hadn't thought about that until right now. She collected herself and looked Dean in the eye.

"Those _bitches_ ," she spat the word. "Tried to kill the man I love and almost succeeded. They may not look like monsters, but looks are deceiving. They're just as bad as any other monster."

"Right on," Dean was impressed. "One last weapons check and then we go in. I'm first, Jess is behind me, and Sam you cover our asses."

Both younger hunters nodded tersely, pulling the pistols out of their waistbands and checking them again. Sam hadn't said anything since leaving the diner, and although both Jess and Dean had picked up on it, it wasn't the time or place to sit and have a discussion.

Picking a lock for the second time tonight, Dean led them cautiously into the house. They had only been able to see a light on in one of the side windows of the house, so Dean made for where he suspected the light had been coming from. As they crept closer, they saw that the light was coming from candles scattered all over the room. The two witches were sitting in the middle of the room, mixing something in a large bowl.

Dean took another step towards the room and immediately regretted it as one of the old floorboards shrieked under his weight. Both witches' heads flew up and they whirled to face the door, one of them flinging it the rest of the way open with a sweep of her hand.

"Now," she purred. "It's not very nice to lurk in the shadows."

"It's not very nice to kill people either," Dean quipped. "I don't see that stopping you. Who the hell kills someone just because their feelings are hurt, anyway?"

The second witch muttered something and Dean found himself thrown to the floor along with Sam and Jess. Seeing a witch hurt his brother (again) and the girl he thought of as a little sister made his blood boil and he climbed back to his feet. Sam was quick to follow, helping Jess up but positioning her slightly behind him.

"See now," Dean snarled. "That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. You just gonna kill everyone you don't agree with?"

"It'd be a start," the first witch, obviously the stronger of the two, said as she waved her hand again and Sam and Dean both found themselves slammed into a wall, losing their weapons in the process. Jess, having been protected by their considerable bulk, had been protected from the worst of it, but still found her gun ripped away by some invisible force.

"You see, all we ever wanted was to be accepted," the witch continued. She stalked back and forth, Sam and Dean still pinned to the wall. "Growing up, my sister and I were always rejected. Never wanted by anyone. We thought by moving to a small town, we'd manage to become part of the community. But there are critical people everywhere."

"Go cry me a river," Sam struggled against the witch's power, speaking for the first time since the diner. He'd seen Jess edging towards one of the guns and wanted to keep the attention on himself and Dean. "Life sucks. Get a helmet."

"You're not the first ones to sit at the unpopular kids' table in the cafeteria," darting a glance to the side, Dean also noticed Jess moving towards the guns. "The difference is, most of them don't become witches and kill anyone who looks at them the wrong way!"

"You think that's all there is?" the second witch exploded. She muttered another curse and the brothers were thrown to opposite sides of the room.

Dean hit a bookshelf, collapsing it, and Sam slammed into the mantle, opening a gash along his hairline and causing several of the numerous candles to tumble down. Jess took advantage of the witch's distraction and dove for the guns. She spun, intending to shoot whichever one she got in her sights first, but froze when she saw the stronger witch holding Sam's hair in one hand and a knife to his throat with the other. He was still dazed from crashing into the mantle, unable to struggle much.

"Put it down," the witch warned, pressing the knife even tighter against Sam's throat. He winced as it broke the skin and a thin line of blood trickled down.

Dean was slowly climbing to his feet as Jess cautiously lowered her gun. She wanted to take the shot and knew she was good enough not to hit Sam, but she didn't want to risk the witch being able to possibly deflect the bullet into him. She didn't know if that was possible, but she wasn't intending to find out.

"That's better," the witch kept the knife against Sam's throat. "Now, what are we going to do about the three of you? I see that the hex bag in your car didn't have quite the effect I'd been hoping for, so what else can we come up with?"

The last part of the sentence was clearly directed at her sister. The younger witch gave a smirk, appearing to consider the possibilities. Dean bridled at the mention of the hex bag, though. The memory of his brother coughing up blood still way too recent.

"Why don't you start by letting go of my brother, you evil skank," Dean suggested.

"But why?" the witch laughed, twisting her hand tighter in Sam's hair. "When clearly he's perfect leverage against you two?"

"Leverage?" Sam was now fully aware and glaring. "Lady, this is the second time you've tried to kill me and I guarantee it's not going to go any better than your first try."

"If I had a knife to my throat, I don't think I'd be so cocky," she growled. "You hunters, always thinking you're better than the rest of the world."

"Just bullies claiming to have a higher calling," the other witch agreed. "Intolerant of anyone who doesn't fit into their perfect little world."

"Maybe we're just intolerant of monsters who kill for pleasure," Dean seethed.

He wracked his brain, trying to think of _anything_ he could do. His and Sam's guns were halfway across the room, way too far for him to consider even if the witch didn't have a knife to his brother's throat. Jess's gun was still right next to her foot, but there was no way she'd be able to pick it up and fire before the witch killed Sam. Dean growled in frustration and looked helplessly at Sammy.

Sam knew that he was going to have to find his own way out of this one. He had the beginnings of an idea, but nothing was going to work unless he could get that damn knife away from his throat. The witch was pressing it so tightly into his throat that he couldn't move, though. He looked at Jess, making sure that she was looking him dead in the eye. Then he looked at the gun next to her foot and flicked his eyes quickly over to Dean. She gave just the barest hint of a nod and Dean did the same. Good, they were all on the same page.

"Because humans never kill for pleasure?" the younger witch scoffed. "I never see you hunters going after them. And can you really tell me that you don't get pleasure from killing us 'monsters'? You're all just hypocrites! Applying one standard to us and another…"

Taking as deep of a breath as he could, and hoping it wasn't his last, Sam jerked his head backwards. He couldn't move his head forward to put any force behind it, but the movement still had the desired effect. His head slammed into the witch's stomach, temporarily knocking the wind out of her and loosening her grip on the knife.

As soon as Sam had started to move, Jess kicked out and sent the gun next to her foot spinning right into Dean's waiting hands. He fired from where he was on the floor, killing the younger witch instantly. He wanted to ignore her and go for the more experienced witch, but she was still too close to Sam. If he'd been at a better angle and everyone was standing still he would've taken the shot without pause, but there were too many variables at play and he wouldn't risk his brother like that.

Sam had grabbed the witch's knife hand and pulled it away. He spun, fully ready to stab her in the throat and end this. He hadn't counted on her recovering so quickly from having the wind knocked out of her, but even as he was turning she sent him flying back towards the wall. He slammed into it again and dropped to the ground.

 _Where'd the damn knife go?!_ Sam thought frantically.

There was another gunshot and he relaxed for a moment against the wall. When he opened his eyes again after a few seconds Dean and Jess were both looking at him with terror-filled expressions.

"What?" he asked. He started to stand, but slipped on something and crashed back down.

"No, no, no," Dean was suddenly by his side. "Stay down. Stay where you are, Sammy."

"It's Sam," he frowned and looked down to see what he'd slipped on. Probably some wax from all those damn candles everywhere. Although he didn't remember there being any red candles in here. And why was there so _much_ of it on the floor?

"Stop moving!" Dean ordered.

Sam looked curiously at his brother. He felt oddly weak, and a little out of it, but still didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Dean poked at his side and he hissed in pain.

"OW, Dean," he complained and pushed Dean's hand away. "What the hell, dude?"

"Sammy, would you quit moving around?" Dean snapped.

Looking at his side, Sam felt oddly detached. He could see the knife handle sticking out of his abdomen, but he didn't feel it. Well, hadn't felt it until Dean had felt the need to poke at it. Now that he'd called attention to it, it was hurting like a bastard.

"Damn," he muttered tiredly. "Some hunter I am. Stabbed my own self instead of the witch. Should take that outta there."

He reached for the knife, only to have his hands slapped roughly away. He was getting ready to bitch at Dean again when he realized it hadn't been him. Jess had been the one to push his hand away from the knife.

"Let it alone," she ordered. "If you take it out now it'll bleed worse. Dean, I need scissors or a knife or something to cut the shirt away from the knife so I can see how bad it is."

"Y'know, if you wanted me to take my shirt off, you coulda just asked," Sam slurred. He didn't understand why he felt so out of it. He'd been hurt worse than this before and hadn't acted nearly this bad. "Musta been cursed. How bout that?"

"Wait, what?" Dean put a hand on Jess's arm to stop her. "What do you mean cursed?"

"The knife," Sam sighed. "Must be cursed. Don't feel right."

"The witch is dead, though," Dean pointed out. "Usually when you kill a witch, the curse goes with it."

"Guess it doesn't always happen that way," Sam was struggling to keep his eyes open. "I'm not really feeling too great."

"You did just fall on a knife," Dean reminded him.

"No, I mean I really don't feel good," Sam repeated.

"Don't feel good as in…" Dean started.

He didn't get any further than that because right at that moment Sam leaned over and vomited. Dean jumped back to avoid being puked on and moved to Sam's other side, next to Jess. He wiped sweat from Sam's forehead with his sleeve. There was sweat just pouring off of the kid.

"What are we looking at?" Dean asked Jess nervously. "Do you think this could be some sort of curse?"

"Possible, but I think it might be more mundane than that," she never looked up. "I'm not Superwoman, so I don't exactly have x-ray vision to tell exactly what's wrong, but my best guess is that the knife pierced his appendix or intestines. Possibly both. We need to get him to a hospital."

"The nearest one is Sioux Falls General," Dean was cursing himself for leaving the Impala back at the diner. "I'll get the car and be back here in less than five minutes. It's only half an hour to the hospital from here. Will he be okay that long?"

"He needs to get to a hospital as soon as we can get him there, but it doesn't look like any major arteries were hit," Jess said. "That's part of the reason I don't want to take the knife out here. The way he is, half an hour won't kill him. Just go. This could be a lot worse, but it could be a lot better, too."

"Gotta get out of here," Sam tried to stand again, but was pushed back by both Dean and Jess.

"Stay put," Dean ordered. "I'm just going to get the car."

"The gunshots," Sam said weakly. "Someone's gonna call the cops. Small town, remember? Everybody looks out for everybody else."

"Son of a bitch," Dean punched the wall. "I didn't think of that. Dammit!"

"I can walk," Sam tried to struggle to his feet. "It didn't even take us five minutes to get here. I'll make it."

"Sam…" Jess warned. "I don't think…"

"It's either this or we get arrested," Dean said unhappily. "Cops don't generally look too kindly on three armed people in a room with two people who have just been shot. Even if one of the three armed people was stabbed."

"Do we at least have bandages or something?" Jess asked. "To secure the knife so it doesn't move around."

"We can use my shirt," Dean offered. "That's the best we have until we get back to the car, though. It'll have to do."

Jess and Dean quickly tore Dean's shirt into strips and wrapped them around Sam's middle. They tried to brace the knife as well as they could, but a minute or two into their makeshift bandaging operation they started to hear sirens.

"Time to go," Dean informed them. "Come on, Sammy. You're gonna lean on me and we're gonna walk nice and slow."

Dean put Sam's arm over his shoulder and lifted him up with Jess keeping a hand on his abdomen as extra support to keep the knife from moving. They hadn't gotten half a block away when three police cars shot by them. They tried to hold Sam up as straight as they could, but none of the cops seemed to so much as glance in their direction.

They stumbled towards the diner. Sam was getting weaker with each step, but Dean cursed and stopped when he saw the knot of people standing in the parking lot. Ginny was flitting around, trying to get people to either go home or get into the diner.

"Now, we'll know what's happening in time," she was saying. "No use in standing around here to gossip and wonder."

She was still trying in vain to get people to leave when she spotted the three hunters. She gasped when she saw Sam literally hanging off of Dean and rushed over.

"What happened? You three were supposed to look after each other," she scolded.

"We were," Dean said. "That's why he's not hurt worse."

Ginny looked at him skeptically, but dashed into the diner and came back with a few towels before they reached the car. She laid two of the towels in the back seat and tucked one into Jess's hands. Dean laid Sam down as gently as he could on the towels and after one more nervous glance at his brother, he motioned for Jess to get in.

"Thank you for all of your help," Jess squeezed the older woman's hands. "You're an angel."

"Get that man of yours to the hospital," Ginny squeezed Jess's hands back before letting go. "And make sure you come back and visit me. Next time I see you three I want all of you to be on your feet and have healthy appetites."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean couldn't resist smiling.

Jess got into the back seat and knelt on the floor so she could be closer to Sam and Dean tore out of the parking lot. He kept looking at them in the rearview mirror nervously. Sam kept getting paler and he was shaking like he was cold, but buckets of sweat were still coming off of him.

"How's he doing?" not even halfway to the hospital Dean couldn't contain his nerves anymore. "He doesn't look too good."

"He'll be okay," Jess sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than him.

"He looks worse, though," Dean clenched the steering wheel tightly.

"The walk didn't do him any favors," Jess dabbed at Sam's forehead with the towel. She reached out to take his pulse. "His body is going into shock. Do you keep a blanket in here?"

"In the trunk," Dean said.

"Don't worry about it, then," Jess draped the towel in her hands around Sam as best as she could. "Drive."

"Sammy, you stay with us, you hear me?" Dean was trying to hold it together, but his eyes were wide and panicked.

Sam's eyes fluttered closed and Jess shook his arm. He managed to open them again, but they only made it to half-mast before starting to close again.

"I need you to stay awake, okay baby?" Jess brushed loose strands of Sam's hair out of his face. "Talk to me. Tell me a story."

Sam smiled weakly. This was something they'd started after they'd moved in together and Jess realized just how much he loved to read. She'd ask him to tell a story and they'd make one up together, always joking that one day they'd write them down and turn them into a book of short stories. She'd always been amazed at Sam's ability to come up with crazy villains for their stories. Now that she understood why, it was less appealing but it was still something comfortable and familiar between them.

"How about a story about a ghost," Sam suggested.

"A friendly one, like Casper," Jess smiled. She'd had quite enough evil for one day, thank you very much.

"Okay, a friendly one," Sam managed a small smile back up to her. "And it lives in…"

"A junkyard," Jess supplied. "Like Bobby's."

"A junkyard, then," Sam agreed. "It only likes old cars, though. From around the time that it was alive. It…it…"

He trailed off as his eyes closed again. Dean's eyes flew back to the rearview mirror and Jess shook Sam's shoulder.

"Honey, you have to try to stay awake for me," she shook harder. "Sam…Sam!"

"Sammy!" Dean's eyes were going rapidly from the mirror to the road. "Sam!"

"M'not feeling so good," Sam muttered. "I…I can't…I…"

"Sam!"

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _ **Additional Note:**_ _Okay, so this chapter wound up being even longer than the last one. *Sigh*. It's really hard to stop once you get going on a roll. I'm sure it's blatantly obvious that I know nothing about the medical profession, so any mistakes I made with the stab wound are completely due to my own ignorance. I also want to apologize for taking a little longer to get this chapter out. I suffer from migraines and I had two or three days where I absolutely could not handle looking at a computer screen (or a TV screen, or my phone, or pretty much anything that wasn't a dark, quiet room). All's well and back on track, though. I'm hoping to have Chapter 4 out within the next few days. I'd love to hear what you think of this chapter or if there are any suggestions or requests for upcoming chapters/additional stories. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Hello again everyone! As always, thank you all for the amazing reviews. I'm making an effort to reply to everyone, so if I've missed anybody I sincerely apologize and want you to know how grateful I am for your support. I have to say, I honestly did not expect for Chapter 3 to end the way it did. I started off that chapter with every intention of having Sam, Dean, and Jess struggling with the witches, but ultimately all of them leaving in one piece. My characters keep taking over and changing the story on me, though.: D Don't worry, in this chapter we'll find out what happened to Sam (again, I have very little knowledge of the medical profession so any mistakes are entirely due to my own ignorance and lazy research). Because I didn't expect Chapter 3 to have the ending that it did my plans for Chapter 4 had to be altered. This is a bit of a filler chapter but I'm still trying to stick to the storyline, although I alter the timeline again at the end. Thank you all again for the amazing reviews and I hope you enjoy this latest chapter!

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

"We need some help here!" Dean slammed into the emergency room with Sam in his arms. Normally he didn't think he'd have the strength to carry his sasquatch of a brother, but fear had a way of enabling people to do things they wouldn't normally be able to do.

Nurses and orderlies took one look at the pale, bleeding man and came running with a gurney. Two orderlies pried Sam from his brother's arms and onto the gurney. A nurse fixed an oxygen mask over his face and they started to quickly wheel him away.

"You two are his family?" the head nurse questioned Dean and Jess.

"I'm his brother and this is his girlfriend," Dean said.

"Can either of you tell me what happened?" the nurse asked, leading them into a small office.

Jess looked nervously at Dean. Obviously they couldn't tell the truth. She didn't think the nurse would take too kindly to being told that a witch had thrown Sam across the room with magic, causing him to land on the knife.

"We got mugged," Dean didn't miss a beat. "There were four guys, I think. We were just gonna give them what they wanted, but then they started going after Jess."

"Oh my," the nurse looked at Jess, concern written all over her face. "Are you alright? Do you need to be seen by a doctor?"

"No, I'm okay," Jess's eyes teared up very convincingly. It wasn't hard, all she had to do was think about Sam and how hurt he was. "Sam and Dean got them away from me, but one had a knife and he stabbed him. I guess they must have freaked out after that because they ran."

"Well, from what little I saw, it looks like one of you has some medical training," the nurse said.

"I'm a pre-med student at Stanford," Jess told her. "Sam and I were just visiting Dean for the weekend when this happened."

"You did well," the nurse assured her. "I'm going to go and check on him now. You two are welcome to stay here in the office. I'll update you on his condition as soon as I have any information."

She hustled out of the room and for the first time since she'd seen the knife and the blood pooling around Sam, Jess started to shake. Tears started to roll down her face. Dean noticed and quickly wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. Jess buried her face in his shirt and let herself cry.

"He's gonna be okay," Dean assured her. "Sam's strong. It'll take more than this to take him out of the game."

"What if the knife nicked an artery, though?" Jess sobbed. "He could've been bleeding out the entire time and we never would've known. Even if the knife didn't hit an artery, the appendix or intestines could've been flooding him with toxins! If he gets an infection…"

"Hey, hey," Dean hugged her tighter, ignoring his 'no chick-flick moments' rule. "I'm telling you, he's going to be fine. I've seen him hurt a hell of a lot worse than this before and he's always bounced back. Hell, one time I saw a wendigo claw him in the leg, right down to the bone. It clipped his femoral artery and the kid actually reached in and pinched it off with his damn fingers until Dad and I managed to kill the wendigo and put a tourniquet around his leg. If he can make it through that, he can make it through this."

"Is there ever a time when you guys _don't_ get hurt on a hunt?" Jess asked incredulously, then winced. She hadn't meant for it to come out sounding so harsh, but she'd always had a tendency to get snappish when she was scared.

"Very rarely," Dean managed a laugh. "There are times when we come off of a hunt with minimal injuries, but someone's almost always bleeding by the time we're done. Winchester family curse, I guess."

Dean held onto Jess for another few minutes, letting her compose herself. Not that there'd been any doubt in his mind, but if he needed any more convincing that Jess truly loved his brother, this would do it. She hadn't even been this upset when she'd been attacked by the demon.

Jess finally pulled away and swiped at her face. She cursed herself for falling apart like that. Dean must have thought she was so weak to just turn into a big, blubbering mess the first time one of them ran into trouble.

They both sat in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts while they waited for the head nurse to come back. Occasionally one of them would glance casually over at the other, each trying to determine if the other was okay. Both of them stressed quietly and tried not to let themselves think too hard about what could be going on with Sam until the nurse came back.

Almost an hour later the nurse knocked quietly on the door and then entered. Dean and Jess straightened in their chairs quickly, noticing that the nurse's eyes were tight.

"How is he?" Dean asked, clenching his hands together to keep anyone from noticing that they were trembling slightly.

"He's being prepped for surgery," the nurse told them. Even though she'd only spent a few minutes with them, she had a feeling that these two wouldn't appreciate her beating around the bush or sugar coating things. "The knife punctured his appendix and part of his large intestine. It also nicked his iliac artery. You saved his life by not removing the knife."

"Oh my god," Jess started to shake again.

"Since Sam is not awake and you're his next of kin, we need your permission to actually bring him into surgery," the nurse looked at Dean. "They need to repair the damage to the artery, as well as remove his appendix and possibly part of the intestine if it can't be repaired."

"Of course. Whatever he needs," Dean said immediately.

"I'll let the surgeon know," she stood and motioned for Dean and Jess to follow. "You won't be able to see him before the surgery, but I'll bring you up to the waiting room."

They followed closely behind her and went in when she motioned them towards a room where three other people sat. One looked concerned, while the other two seemed fairly relaxed. Jess immediately went to sit next to the fidgety, nervous-looking man.

"Hi," she said companionably. "It's gonna be okay."

The man looked up, startled. His eyes were glassy and it was clear that he'd either been there for a long time or had had very little sleep. Probably both.

"My wife and I were in a car accident," he said quietly. "The doctors…they don't think…"

"Hey. You can't think like that," Jess took his hand. "Believe in her. She'll fight to get through this."

"You don't understand," the man clearly hadn't had anyone to talk to judging by the way he broke down. "I was the one driving the car. Someone cut us off on the highway and I lost control."

"That doesn't make it your fault," Jess assured him. "The person at fault here is the one who cut you off, not you."

"I still feel like I should've done more to keep control of the car," the man said with a haunted look in his eyes. He sighed and looked up at her. "I'm Carl."

"Jess," she squeezed his hand. "And that's Dean."

The men nodded to each other. Dean was sitting a few seats away, keeping his eyes glued to the door, but still watching Jess out of the corner of his eye. She was a lot calmer now that she was comforting someone else, he noticed.

"Your boyfriend?" Carl asked.

"My boyfriend's brother," Jess smiled.

"Your boyfriend is the one who got hurt," it was more of a statement than a question, but Jess still nodded.

"We were mugged and he was protecting me," she stuck to the story. "One of the muggers stabbed him for it."

"This world is going to hell," Carl muttered. "He's going to be okay?"

"They haven't said yet, but I have confidence in him," Jess nodded. "He's strong, just like I'm sure your wife is."

Dean sighed. He knew he had phone calls to make and it wasn't going to get any easier the longer he waited. He still didn't trust this Carl guy, but he was pretty sure he wasn't some serial killer who was going to murder Jess the second he left the room.

"Jess," he said softly. "I have to call Bobby and let him know what's going on."

"He's going to kill us," Jess lamented.

"Not us. Just me. I'm gonna be right out in the hall, in case you need me," he looked at Carl pointedly. Just in case.

"I'll be fine, Dean," Jess rolled her eyes at him. In all honesty, she thought his protectiveness was cute, though. Her brothers had always been somewhat protective of her, seeing as she was the youngest and the only girl, but there was something heart-warming in the fact that Dean didn't have to be and yet he still was.

Dean stalked out of the waiting room and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He glared at it for a moment, contemplating whether he really wanted to call Bobby yet. He groaned and scrolled through his contacts, past Bobby's name, before pausing for a minute before hitting the call button.

As expected, his call went to voicemail. Even though it was expected, he still felt a flare up of almost uncontrollable anger.

"Dad, it's Dean," he snapped. "Call me back when you get this. Sam's hurt and they're taking him into surgery now. Doctors seem pretty sure he should be fine, but he could use all the support he can get right now. We're at Sioux Falls General. Do us all a favor and pretend like you care for once in your damn life."

He angrily hit the end call button and glared at his phone for a few more seconds. It wasn't like him to pop off at his father, but dammit he was mad. They'd both tried to get ahold of the man after the demon had attacked Jess, with no response. Now Sam was hurt and Dean expected that he would get exactly the same reaction. Nothing. Sure, he believed that his dad cared about him and Sam, but it could be awfully hard to remember when the man ignored every attempt they made to reach out to him.

Steeling himself for what he knew was apt to be an uncomfortable conversation, Dean scrolled back up to Bobby's number. He glanced through the window of the waiting room to see Jess still talking calmly with Carl, sucked it up, and hit the call button again.

"It's about damn time!" the phone had barely rung once when Bobby picked up. "I thought I told you to call me as soon as you were done with the witch!"

"Witches," Dean corrected. "There were two, Bobby."

"You take care of them?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, but…" Dean broke off.

"But…" Bobby pried, even more frustration seeping into his voice. Judging by the way Dean was hesitant to actually tell him anything, he knew there was a problem.

"Sam got hurt," Dean said. "One of the witches was pretty strong. She was holding a knife to his throat and Sam managed to get ahold of it, but she tossed him across the room and landed on it. He's in surgery now."

"I'll be there in ten minutes," Bobby growled. "Keep an eye on Jess and call me if anything changes."

Dean sighed again and hung up the phone. He reflected on the fact that it was a sad world when he couldn't get his own father on the phone, but his father's friend would pick up on the very first ring. He clutched his phone so tightly it was a miracle that it didn't break and headed back into the waiting room.

"Bobby will be here in ten," he told Jess.

"Your dad?" Carl asked, striking out for the second time with his assumptions.

"Uncle," Dean said shortly.

It didn't take Bobby ten minutes to get to the hospital. He was there in five. He stalked into the waiting room and bee lined for Dean and Jess, scowling at the bruises on both of them. He grabbed Dean by the elbow and pulled him out of the room.

"Explain," he ordered shortly.

"One of the witches was stronger than we expected," Dean shrugged. "There's really nothing more to explain than that. She got the drop on us and threw us around a bit. Sam and I took the worst of it, but he just happened to be the one who landed closest to her."

"Damn it, boy," Bobby snapped. "You were supposed to be watching out for him."

"What do you think I was doing, Bobby?" Dean exploded. "I've been watching out for that kid since I carried him out of the house when he was six months old! Don't you think it's killing me to know that he got hurt on my watch? That I couldn't do anything to stop it? Back off a little!"

"I'm sorry," Bobby rubbed his eyes. "You're right. You can't be everywhere at once. I been stressing ever since you told me it was a witch and not a ghost. Managed to make up all sorta nightmare scenarios in my head. How long do they expect to have him in surgery?"

"No telling," Dean hung his head. "I'm sorry I snapped on you, Bobby. I'm worried too."

"Let's get back in there before that guy sitting next to Jess thinks I killed ya," Bobby squeezed Dean's shoulder. "He didn't look too kindly on me when I dragged you outta there."

"It's all good," Dean laughed as they went back in. "I could take you out any day of the week anyway, old man."

"Oh, now it's old man," Bobby cuffed the back of his head, which only got another laugh.

Jess smiled at Bobby, but stayed quiet. Carl seemed a lot calmer now that she'd offered him a compassionate ear, but she couldn't deny that she was still worried and getting more so with every minute that passed. No matter what Dean said about Sam's ability to bounce back, she'd never seen her boyfriend hurt before. She knew that he had been, obviously. It wasn't like the scar on his leg could be missed, even though he'd never been willing to share where or how he'd gotten it. Knowing he had been hurt was a lot different from seeing it happen, though.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

"Dean Sawyer?" a doctor wearing surgical scrubs walked in and looked around the room.

"Finally," Dean breathed, jumping to his feet. "Right here."

Three hours later and they were the only ones left in the waiting room other than Carl. Bobby had acted like a calming presence for everyone, especially as Jess got tenser. At one point she'd started to cry again, and Bobby pulled her aside to talk to her softly. He didn't say anything that Dean hadn't said already, but for a gruff old man, he managed to be awfully comforting.

"How is he?" Dean asked.

"He's in recovery now," the doctor told him. "We managed to get the artery repaired quickly. His appendix was removed and we did wind up having to take a section of his intestine out. He's also got a slight skull fracture, but I'm confident that he'll be fine. We do need to keep him at least overnight to guard against infection. Once he's settled we'll start him on IV antibiotics, but I think he's going to be perfectly okay once he heals up."

"When can we see him?" Dean demanded.

"Once he's out of recovery and settled in a room," the doctor said calmly. He was used to anxious family members. "He was very lucky. Things could have been much worse, but he seems to be extremely resilient. Um, Mr. Sawyer, do you mind if I speak with you in private about something, though."

 _Here it comes,_ Dean thought tiredly. _The questions about all the scars. God, I hate hospitals._

"Mr. Sawyer, I wonder if you are aware of the…overabundance of injuries that your brother seems to have sustained over the years?" the doctor asked uncomfortably. "I saw evidence of quite a number of past broken bones in addition to all of the scars. I'm going to be blunt and ask. Has Sam ever been, or is he currently being abused?"

"No," Dean said. "He's accident-prone, that's all. And a daredevil. Those two things don't mix well."

"You're sure?" the doctor glanced pointedly at Bobby. And at the bruised knuckles on Dean's hand from when he'd punched the wall.

"That man would cut off his hands before he'd ever touch any of us," Dean's anger flared back up. "I mean Sam isn't exactly a small guy. It took five guys and a knife to the gut to take him down. I'm pretty sure he'd be able to handle himself against one old man if he needed to. Which he doesn't. As for me, I would die before I'd ever hurt my little brother. We were mugged and we fought back! So these," he waved his injured hand in the doctor's face. "These were from punching one of those sons of bitches in the face, _not_ from hitting my brother!"

"I'm sorry," the doctor apologized, but didn't flinch away from the angry outburst. "It's part of my job to question things like this. No matter what the size of the patient, abuse can happen. Many times abuse victims, even if they do outsize their abuser, will refuse to fight back. Especially if it's been going on for a long time. Or if the abuser is someone they look up to, such as an older brother."

"Trust me when I say that Bobby has never raised a hand to either of us, and I have never raised a hand to Sam," Dean seethed. "Now I want to see him."

"He's still in recovery," the doctor reminded him. "You'll need to wait until he's settled in his room before we can allow you to see him."

"Hurry up and get him settled then," Dean ordered, stalking back into the waiting room.

"The usual?" Bobby asked.

"I hate hospitals," Dean said, figuring that was answer enough.

"The usual what?" Jess asked. Her boys tended to forget that she hadn't been around to know what 'usual' consisted of for them.

"Doctors tend to get curious about why we have so many bumps, bruises, broken bones, and scars," Dean explained. "Then they start asking questions. Even though we try to avoid hospitals, you wouldn't believe how many times Dad or Bobby has almost been arrested for child abuse over the years. Me too, once I got older. That idiot of a doctor actually thought Bobby or I were the ones who did that to him."

"Oh," Jess thought back to a class she'd taken back at Stanford on how to spot signs of abuse and how to approach and talk with abuse victims. She could remember being suspicious herself about where all of Sam's injuries had come from after taking that class. Ultimately she'd wound up dismissing her concerns since, while Sam didn't generally have a lot to say about his family, he hadn't seemed to ever be afraid of them.

Carl was looking at them oddly. Curiosity was written plainly all over his face, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. The past three hours had taught him that although Jess was someone he could talk comfortably with, Dean and Bobby were reluctant to say any more than was strictly necessary. He'd also seen Dean snap at one of the other men in the waiting room when the man had tried to complain to a passing nurse about how unsanitary it was for Dean to be wandering around in clothes that were covered in blood and had speculated about a number of reasons why he even had that much blood on him. For a minute he'd thought for sure that Dean was going to tear the man apart, and hadn't been entirely sure that Jess and Bobby would be able to hold him back. All things considered, it just seemed safer to let sleeping dogs lie.

They sat in silence for about another half hour, Jess still reaching out to squeeze Carl's hand encouragingly when his stress for his wife started to overtake him. Finally, the doctor stepped back into the room, staying prudently away from Dean.

"He's out of recovery and resting comfortably," he said. "You can go in and see him now, if you'd like. Room 217. He is on some fairly heavy-duty painkillers, so there's a very good chance that he'll be groggy or not quite himself."

Dean pushed past the doctor without a word. He glanced at the number on the first door he came to and strode off confidently. Jess and Bobby rushed after him, with Bobby throwing a quick thank you over his shoulder to the doctor.

Finding room 217, Dean burst through the door to see Sam staring vacantly up at the ceiling. He dragged his glassy eyes away from whatever he was looking at and looked slowly at Dean.

"Heyyy, big brother," Sam drawled. He looked down and poked a finger at the lower right side of his stomach. "Lookit. They din't even need to cut me open. Cut myself open."

"Don't do that," Dean slapped his fingers away from the wound. "You'll pop your stitches. How are you feeling?"

"Me?" Sam pointed to himself. "I feel _awesome_! Jessie! Hey!"

"Exactly how much pain medication is he on?" Jess wondered. "He only calls me Jessie when he's really drunk. I mean falling down, can't find the door drunk. He knows better otherwise."

"Kid's always been a lightweight," Bobby was trying, unsuccessfully, to contain his amusement.

Jess gave both coherent hunters a warning glare anyway. She did not want them getting it into their heads to take the hated nickname and run with it. They both looked at her innocently and she didn't trust their looks for a second, but walked over to give Sam a kiss on the cheek.

"You're so pretty," Sam patted at her face.

"You're high," she laughed at him.

"Yeah, but I feel _awesome_!" he repeated, smiling happily. "It hurts, but I don't even care. Look!"

He started poking at his stomach again to prove it. He winced in pain, but then laughed immediately afterwards. Dean and Jess both reached out to smack his hands away again.

"Might need to get the dosage on those pain pills reduced," Bobby was laughing openly now. "Otherwise this idjit's gonna rip his stitches out just cuz he thinks it's funny."

"I'll handcuff him to the bed before I let him do that," Dean said, which only got another laugh from Sam. "At least you've always been a happy drunk."

"Not drunk," Sam slurred. "High's a kite, but not drunk. These pain pills are great. Can I have another one?"

"That's how you get addicted, kiddo," Dean looked around to make sure there wasn't an actual pill bottle anywhere in sight. Satisfied that there wasn't, he turned to see Sam trying to sit up and swing his legs out of bed.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Jess put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back gently, but firmly. "You need to stay in bed, mister."

"Aw, c'mon Jessie," Sam whined. "I'm fine. I could go on another hunt right now!"

"How about we save that for another time?" Bobby laid a hand on Sam's other shoulder to discourage the younger man from trying to get up again. "Y'know, a time when you didn't just come out of major surgery."

"You're no fun, Uncle Bobby," Sam giggled.

"Uncle Bobby?" Dean was starting to think he should be videotaping this. "Sammy, you haven't called him that since you were twelve."

"That witch hurt my head," Sam pouted, scratching at the stitched up cut near his hairline from where he'd bashed his head against the mantle.

"Would you stop picking at your stitches?" Jess had to laugh at the way Sam was going from happy to pouty from one second to the next. "If you pull them out the doctor's just going to have to put them back in. Gotta say, I'm pretty surprised you can even feel your head with all the drugs they pumped into you."

"Doctor said you fractured your skull," Dean said. "Always thought it would take more than just a little bump to crack that hard head."

"I'm gonna throw up," Sam said happily, ignoring both of them.

He said it so casually that it took both Dean and Jess a beat to get what he'd said to compute. Their eyes both widened and they scrambled for a bucket or trash can, but Bobby was already there, holding a basin under Sam's face.

"I have the oldest ears in here and I'm still the only one who actually listened to what he said," Bobby shook his head. He rubbed the back of Sam's neck as he threw up into the basin.

When Sam sat back and pushed the basin away he still, amazingly, looked pretty cheerful. There was actual pain written on his face now, though.

"God, my head usually only hurts this bad after a vision," Sam raised his hands to clamp his head on both sides. It looked like he was trying to hold his skull together.

"A what?" all three other hunters looked at each other in confusion.

"Sammy, what do you mean about visions?" Dean took over.

"Visions!" Sam nodded happily, although the movement caused him to groan. "Like, I see things and then they happen. Used to be just ni…ni'mer…bad dreams at night."

"Nightmares," Jess supplied. She shared a concerned look with Dean and Bobby.

"That's it," Sam agreed. "Startin' to happen in the day now. When I'm awake."

"Okay, but what kind of visions?" Dean's eyes were clouded with tension. "Why haven't you said anything about this, Sammy? When did these visions start?"

"Maybe right now ain't the time to play twenty questions with the kid," Bobby suggested.

"Started a coupla days before you came to get me at school," Sam cheerfully ignored Bobby. "Dreamed that the demon came for Jessie. Why'd ya think I was in such a rush to get back?"

The mention of the night Jessica had been attacked made her jolt. Although it was memorable, it certainly wasn't a fond memory.

"I c'n see people die in my head," Sam continued. "Dunno why. Haven't been able to see enough to save anyone yet. 'Cept for Jess."

"We should wrap this up, kids," Bobby noticed Sam was slurring more and more of his words. "Sam needs his rest."

"Nah, I'm good," Sam laughed. "Jus slep when they were poking 'round in here."

He pointed to his stomach again, but to everyone's relief, didn't touch it. Jess's medical training was kicking in and she was starting to notice that Sam was about done too. His eyes were starting to get even glassier and he was generally staring into a blank corner of the room rather than looking at them while he talked.

Jess was just getting ready to agree with Bobby when there was a soft knock. They all looked up to see Carl standing in the door.

"I'm sorry to bother you," he apologized.

"Hey, it's all good," Sam threw his arms out. "We c'n have a party!"

"No parties for you for a while, tiger," Dean said.

"Hi Carl," Jess waved him further into the room. "Is your wife out of surgery?"

"She is. Finally," a relieved look came over his face. "You were right. She's going to be okay. The doctors said it was pretty touch and go for a bit, but they have her stabilized. She's got a long hospital stay ahead of her and probably a couple more surgeries, but she'll live."

"That's wonderful!" Jess gave him a quick hug, which earned her a dirty look from Sam.

"I wanted to thank you for being there for me, even though you were just as worried about him as I was about my wife," Carl said. "Really, I don't know how to explain how grateful I am."

"You don't have to," Jess smiled. "It helped both of us."

"Well if there's ever anything you need, anything at all, call me. Please," he handed her a business card.

He walked back out of the room as Jess looked at the card in her hand. The name on it meant almost nothing to her, other than knowing that she'd become awfully fond of the middle-aged man, but Bobby raised an eyebrow appreciatively.

"Carl Stalter," he said. "I'll be damned. He's one of the best judges in all of South Dakota. Having a contact like him could come in mighty handy someday."

"I din't like him," Sam grumbled.

"You just didn't like him because I gave him a hug," Jess brushed those loose strands of hair out of his eyes again. "Don't worry. I still love you more."

"We really should think about getting some rest," Bobby said. "It's been a long day for everyone and despite what stoner boy over here thinks, he should get some more sleep."

"I'll stay here with him tonight," Dean offered. "He'll most likely wind up roaming the halls and terrorizing all the nurses if I don't."

"I don't terr…tar…I don't do that!" Sam tried to look indignant.

"Uh huh," Dean patted his shoulder. "You two head back and get some rest."

"Make sure you get some sleep, too," Jess ordered, putting her small finger in his face. "The last thing we need is for you to wind up in here because you collapsed from exhaustion."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean ticked off a mock salute.

"We'll be back in the morning," Bobby smiled. "C'mon Jess, we'll take my car. Dean would have a canary if you asked to drive his."

They walked down the hall joking with one another while Dean found an extra pillow and blanket stashed in the small closet next to Sam's bed. His brother was back to staring up at a crack in the ceiling, but his eyes kept slipping closed for longer periods of time.

He stayed up a few more minutes until he was sure that Sam was well and truly passed out and settled himself into the uncomfortable recliner. Before he let himself drift off, he spared another concerned glance at Sam, though.

"Whatever these visions are that you have going on, you better be okay, Sammy," he whispered. "Jess and I need you to stick around, little brother so you damn well better be okay."

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _Here's another useless fact that probably no one wants to know: The fractured skull that the doctor talked about Sam having came from the fact that I fractured my skull back in March 2016 in a horseback riding accident. Always, always,_ _ **ALWAYS**_ _wear a helmet people. If I'd been thrown just a little more to the right, I wouldn't be here to write this because I was one of those stubborn people who got over-confident and insisted that 20+ years of riding experience meant that nothing unexpected could happen and I couldn't be thrown anymore. Let me tell you, there are absolutely no pain or anti-nausea meds that can completely take away the pain and nausea that come from a fractured skull (it's also the reason I get the migraines that I do). Like I said, useless fact. I just like to throw random "get to know me" type of facts in here and there._

 _For a filler chapter, I don't think this came out too horribly I hope. I amused myself with Sam's medicated stupor and tried to put the storyline back on track by bringing his visions up early. I should have the next chapter posted by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. I hope everyone has a great weekend!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Wow. Thank you all soooo much for the reviews! I was actually disappointed with the last chapter. I felt like I rushed it, but seeing that people loved it was so encouraging. Again, I hope I didn't miss replying to anyone's review, but if I did then I apologize and I do appreciate them more than I can say.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

"Seriously, Dean? It's been almost two weeks! I'm not an invalid, man!" Sam complained from his place on the couch.

"Doc said you had to stay off your feet as much as possible for at least two or three weeks," Dean pinched the bridge of his nose and dropped into the big recliner across from the couch. "A skull fracture isn't something to mess around with."

"It's not gonna kill me to walk from here to the kitchen by myself," Sam grumbled. "You do know I make it from the bedroom to the couch every single morning, right?"

He knew that a skull fracture was worse than the concussions they usually had to deal with, but damn if he wasn't bored out of his mind with Dean, Jess, and Bobby refusing to let him do anything for himself. His head was pounding just from the small argument with his brother, but he refused to take any more of the painkillers that had been prescribed to him at the hospital. He'd accidentally grabbed Dean's phone instead of his own a day or two after getting back to Bobby's and had seen a video Dean, laughing hysterically the entire time, had taken of him singing on the couch. He certainly didn't intend to give his older brother any more leverage.

"Doctor's orders," Jess came in with soup for him and sandwiches for her and Dean. Even two weeks after the incident, Sam still got nauseous if he ate anything too heavy. "No arguing."

Jess pushed Dean over a little and curled up in the oversize recliner next to him. Since the accident and the hospital the two of them had gotten closer. It seemed like they were finally figuring each other out and getting comfortable with the new dynamic of having Jess there. Dean would never admit it, but he had developed one hell of a soft spot for the tiny woman.

"Do we have any leads on a new job yet?" Sam changed the subject.

"Found a couple of possibles," Bobby said. "Handed em off to other hunters, though."

"What about something small or easy?" Dean asked. "Something that Jess and I can handle. I'm going stir crazy being cooped up and not working."

"How do you think I feel?" Sam muttered. He knew he was being a whiny brat, but in truth he was still in some pain from both his stomach and his head and it was making him cranky. He was feeling better every day, but even he couldn't deny that he wasn't one hundred percent yet.

"Nothin' I'd feel comfortable sending a brand new hunter on," Bobby said. "Sorry Jess. You did damn good against those witches, but none of us are willing to risk pushing you into the deep end of the pool too fast."

"I understand," Jess sighed. She and Dean had advanced with her training while Sam was laid up and she had continued to get better, but she understood why all three men were so protective.

Dean's phone let out a buzz and he cursed as he dug around for it. When he finally found it he let out an even louder curse.

"Watch your tongue, boy," Bobby warned. "What's the fuss?"

Sam and Jess were looking at him curiously, too. Normally Dean didn't get this upset about anything short of one of them getting hurt.

"Coordinates," Dean said angrily.

"Coordinate?" Jess repeated. "What about coordinates?"

"Whenever we'd get separated from Dad and he wanted us to go somewhere or to meet him, he'd leave us a set of coordinates," Sam explained. "Once a Marine, always a Marine. He never really did get it through his head that he was our father, not our drill instructor."

"Well, aren't the coordinates a good thing?" Jess focused on the least touchy area of that statement. "If he's texting you with coordinates then maybe that's where he is and he wants us to meet up with him."

As if on cue, Dean's phone buzzed again. If it was possible, his stormy look got even darker. He clutched his phone so tightly for a moment that all three other hunters were worried it would break and drive shards of plastic and glass into his hand.

"Dean?" Jess reached out and gently touched his wrist. She knew there was no way she'd be physically able to loosen his grip, but her hand on his wrist seemed to do the trick.

"It's not a meeting," Dean tossed his phone over to Sam. "It's a job. Asshole couldn't be bothered to answer his phone when his own son's injured and in surgery, but he can text me two weeks later with a damn job! Just like nothing's happened!"

"Gee," Bobby said dryly. "Looks like you shrunk a few inches there, Sam."

"Huh?" Dean was jerked out of his rant. Replaying his own words in his head he managed a wry smile. "Okay, that did sound more like something Sammy would say. Doesn't change the fact that Dad couldn't be bothered to make sure Sam was okay, but he doesn't have an issue sending us a job."

"Your Daddy's always had his own way of doing things," Bobby adjusted his ever-present baseball cap. "I'm not sayin' he's right or wrong, but you know as well as anybody that it's just how he is."

"What kind of job is it?" Jess redirected the conversation. She obviously hadn't met John yet, but at this point she wasn't impressed with the man. Between the little Sam had told her about him and the fact that he'd never responded to Dean's call when Sam was in the hospital, she had no desire to meet him anytime soon.

Before Sam could answer, Dean's phone buzzed in his hand again. This time it was Sam who glared at the phone like it was something evil.

"Now what?" Dean asked.

"Dad says he expected us to be doing more than sitting around at Bobby's," Sam said angrily. "He must have the GPS on your phone turned on. Since when can he even work a cell phone, anyway?"

"Since I taught him how last year," Dean told him. "I guess the fact that we just took out those two witches escaped his notice."

"I guess," Sam scowled at the phone. "The article he sent says that a couple of teens turned up dead at an abandoned inn in Pennsylvania."

Sam tossed the phone aside and pulled his computer over into his lap. He tapped at it for a minute, pulling up a few local websites.

"Okay, here we go," he said. "Looks like this place is in a small town in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Supposedly, it was boarded up because people kept reporting 'strange occurrences' while they were staying there. It got a bad reputation and lost so much business that the owners couldn't keep it up and had no choice but to close up shop."

"Pennsylvania?" Jess asked. "That's halfway across the country."

"Standard for this line of work," Bobby said gently. "Does it look like there's any truth to the claims?"

"All of them are pretty similar, so maybe," Sam answered. As much as he wanted to stay angry at their father, researching a case always put him into hunter mode. "Most of the accounts say one of two things. The first group is people who stayed in Room 10. They all report having furniture or their things moved around the room, the door slamming in their faces, or closing the door and having it open right back up. It looks like local legend says there's a ghost named Sally who haunts that room."

"Well, Sally doesn't sound particularly dangerous," Dean said. "What's the other group say?"

"The second group claims to have seen a woman on the main stairs or walking across the golf course," Sam continued. "They call her the Lady in Brown. Rumor has it that she committed suicide back in the 20's by throwing herself off of the cliff this inn is built on."

"That sounds more like vengeful spirit material," Dean pointed out.

"Sounds like a pretty simple salt and burn if you can suss out who she was and where she's planted," Bobby said. "There can't be too many places in a small town like that."

"I guess we're going to Pennsylvania, then?" Jess asked.

"We're going to Pennsylvania," Dean confirmed.

He wrapped an arm companionably around Jess and leaned his head back, trying to stave off the headache that was building. He'd never been one for the touchy, feely, chick flick moments. But he'd also never had a little sister before. Dean made up his mind that he was going to have to have a long chat with Sam about making that official…

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

Thirteen hundred miles later, the three young hunters rolled into Milford, Pennsylvania. It had been a long two days back on the road, and all any of them wanted to do was collapse onto the beds in the small motel they'd managed to find.

Sam had just barely convinced Dean and Jess to let him come along on this hunt. They both thought he needed more time to heal before he could think about running around after a ghost. He had refused to be left behind, though. He'd actually threatened to stow away, which had only left them with the option of letting him come along.

"You weren't kidding when you said this was a small town," Dean flopped down onto the bed closest to the door. "I bet there are more trees than people around here."

"It's supposed to be a pretty historic town, so that's not really that surprising," Sam had been doing more research on the ride, hoping to come up with something that would help them identify the Lady in Brown. He and Jess had both been thrilled to find out that the town had a few local historical sites and they hoped they'd get the chance to visit them.

"Did you find any actual useful information?" Dean asked.

"Not yet," Sam admitted. "There have been a lot of so-called accidents with people falling off of that cliff, though. That's how our ghost offed herself, so I'm not buying the whole accidents thing."

"I grabbed this out of the lobby," Jess came into the room, waving a pamphlet. "It says pretty much the same thing that the website does, but I figured it couldn't hurt to take a look anyway."

Sam took the pamphlet from Jess and scanned it quickly. It did have basically the same information as he'd found online, but included several speculations on who the Lady in Brown might have been.

"So get this, it looks like there were a couple of silent films shot at this inn," Sam explained. "An actor-slash-director, Tom Mix, used to like filming at the Cliff Park Inn. A couple of the rumors say that our Lady in Brown was either an actress or a crew member in some of his movies."

"Any chance these rumors include a name?" Dean asked, although he wasn't exactly hopeful.

"No," Sam confirmed. "But this gives us a start, at least. There's bound to be someone who knows what movies were shot there."

"Fine," Dean groaned. "Later, though. Right now I'm exhausted and need lunch. Where's the nearest place to eat around here?"

"I don't remember passing any diners," Jess put in.

"Me neither," Sam did a quick internet search. "Okay, looks like the nearest diner is a couple of miles from here. Or there's a couple of fast food places about fifteen minutes away."

"Nothing healthier than that?" Jess grimaced.

"Doesn't look like it," Sam's face mirrored Jess's. "Small towns like this aren't exactly known for their health food. There used to be a place, but it went out of business."

"Diner it is, then," Dean pushed himself up off the bed with a groan. "Sam, why don't you come with me so Jess can rest? We'll pick something up and come back with it."

"I'm okay," Jess said, but then promptly yawned so hard they practically heard her jaw crack.

"Want to try that again?" Dean laughed. "Come on, Sammy. We'll be back soon."

The brothers piled back into the car with identical groans. Dean felt bad as he watched Sam dig his fingers into his sore back. The Impala was a good-sized car, but his brother's 6'4" frame was not made for being confined in a vehicle for countless hours.

"So, this isn't really my thing, but we need to talk," Dean said.

"You? Talk?" Sam glanced over tiredly. "That's it, the world must be ending."

"Shut up," Dean ordered, but there was no bite to the words. "Dude, I'm gonna flat-out tell you. You're an idiot if you don't marry that girl."

"Okay. Random," Sam looked at his brother. "Where did that come from?"

"I don't know," Dean shrugged and pulled the car in front of a small building with a neon sign proclaiming it to be the _Milford Diner._ "Gee, that's original. Listen, I just know that Jess is special. I've never seen you this happy, and it's not every day that you find a woman who accepts the whole hunter thing. I know I'll never find someone like that, but you did and you shouldn't let her go."

"I wasn't planning on it," Sam almost looked embarrassed as he climbed back out of the car. "I was shopping around for rings for a couple of weeks before you showed up. After everything that happened, it just didn't seem like the right time. There's nothing saying you're not going to find someone though, Dean."

Dean waved that comment away. He knew his womanizing ways and hunter lifestyle put his chances of finding someone way past slim and well into the land of none. Right now he was more concerned with making sure Sam didn't mess up his chance to have as normal of a life as possible.

"Don't bother shopping anymore," Dean ordered. He backtracked back to the car, opened the glove compartment, and pulled a small envelope out. "Dad kept this after Mom…anyway, I think Mom would've wanted you to have it. She'd have loved Jess."

Sam opened the little envelope and saw an engagement ring and wedding band set. He had to blink back tears for a minute.

"These…these were Mom's?" he asked.

"Yeah," Dean said shortly. "C'mon. Let's get some food and get back."

They both stayed quiet as they waited for their food and on the drive back to the motel. Sam clutched the envelope tightly. This was big. They didn't have much left that had been their Mom's, but Dean still wanted him to have one of the few, important things that they did have.

Jess was asleep on the far bed when they got back. Sam went over to wake her up while Dean set their food down on the small counter. As soon as Sam touched her shoulder, Jess tensed and came immediately awake. She automatically reached for the knife stashed under her pillow, and Sam had to grab her wrist to keep her from grabbing it.

"Easy, babe," he laughed. "It's just us. We brought food."

"I almost stabbed you," Jess grumbled.

"No you didn't," Sam dropped a kiss on her nose. "Come on and let's eat. Then we can head out to the inn and see if our Lady in Brown is home."

Jess followed him back over to the little table and noticed that he was limping a little. She looked at him sympathetically. Two years ago when they moved in together, she'd noticed that if Sam sat at his desk studying for too long, his back would cause him agony. Apparently it was the same with a car. Instead of sitting next to him at the table, she detoured to her bag and pulled out a heat pad. She tossed it into the microwave for a minute and then rested it against Sam's back.

"I really think you should stay back here for this hunt," Jess suggested. "You were already hurt to begin with and now your back is acting up."

"I'll be fine," Sam waved her concerns away. "My back always locks up like this after sitting for too long. Half an hour with this heat pad and I'll be ready to go."

"Jess is right," Dean put in. "This ghost already killed a couple of kids and you said yourself that people have been falling off of that cliff in 'accidents' for years now. You're not at full strength yet."

"I can handle a damn ghost hunt, Dean," Sam glared at his brother, but then grinned slyly. "I don't know how much help I'm going to be with the digging for this salt and burn, though."

"Convenient," Dean threw a French fry at his head.

They actually waited closer to forty-five minutes before Jess would let them leave the motel. She insisted that Sam's back needed more time to un-cramp and Dean needed some down time before he got back behind the wheel. Both of them grumbled and muttered something about feeling just fine, but Jess was a force to be reckoned with when she set her mind to something. She'd put her tiny body in front of the door and refused to move, knowing that neither of them would risk hurting her by physically moving her out of the way.

"You might just be even more stubborn than he is," Dean mumbled when she finally let them leave the room.

"I'm one up on you there," she grinned. "I know I'm the person in the room who has the longest stubborn streak. You're the one who's apparently just catching on."

"Don't look at me," Sam was trying to stifle a laugh. "I've known her for three years and lived with her for the last two of those."

"You're both incorrigible," Dean glared at them. "Can we go, please?"

It was a fifteen-minute drive from the motel to the abandoned inn. Getting out of the car, all three hunters looked around at the view.

"Wow," Jess finally said. "This is…this is amazing!"

"I can see why it was so popular," Sam agreed.

They tore themselves away from the view and walked back to the trunk. Dean handed Jess one of the shotguns, took another for himself, and then paused to look at Sam.

"Good god, Dean, I'm not gonna break," Sam snatched up the last shotgun. "Can we be professionals about this, please?"

Sam led the way into the inn. He wasn't surprised to see the crime scene tape scattered everywhere, but he was surprised at the state of the lobby. He'd expected the usual for a haunted house. Broken windows, torn up carpets, things like that. Instead, it looked shabby, but otherwise somewhat maintained.

"Let's start down here and then move up to the rooms," Dean glanced up the stairs and then moved towards the big dining room and kitchen beyond it.

Sam and Jess shrugged and followed him. Just like the last hunt, Dean had ordered them all to stay together. Between Jess's inexperience and Sam's injuries, he'd said, it was much safer than splitting up with a homicidal ghost on the loose.

They stalked slowly through the dining room and the kitchen. The EMF meter was going wild, and Dean reached into his pocket to turn it off. It had really just been a formality anyway. There was no way there could've been that many corroborating stories and there not be some sort of truth to them.

Once they were in the huge kitchen, they separated a little. They stayed within sight of each other, though. Suddenly, a can of pineapple (of all things) shot out of the gloom of one corner aimed right for Dean's head. He ducked it, only to have another one come sailing straight at him.

"Whoa!" Dean stumbled back. The second can had clipped him on the shoulder. "What the hell is up with the pineapple?"

As if in answer, another can flew out of the corner and hit the counter hard enough to explode the can and send pineapple bits everywhere. So far all of them had been aimed at Dean, but Sam still put himself protectively between Jess and the pineapple-throwing ghost.

"Okay!" Dean yelled. "We're going!"

He waved them towards the door that led back to the dining room and Sam started backing himself and Jess towards it. One last can came flying at Dean's head as they made their escape.

"Did our Lady in Brown have an issue with pineapples?" Dean asked, angrily brushing bits of pineapple out of his hair. "I don't remember reading about that."

"Um, well, there was nothing about the Lady in Brown throwing cans of pineapple," Sam looked guilty. "There might have been a few rumors about the ghost of a chef, though?"

"Seriously?" Dean glared daggers at him. "You didn't think to maybe bring up the ghost of a pineapple-throwing chef?!"

"Of the three ghosts rumored to be here, he was the least likely," Sam said. "Supposedly people called him 'Uncle Stew' and he tended to be your usual, temperamental chef. Liked to throw cans of pineapple or pineapple juice at people who he thought had sub-par standards where food was concerned. I don't know what his issue was with pineapple, though."

"I guess we know why they were all aimed at Dean, then," Jess couldn't help a smirk.

"Guy just doesn't understand what good food really is!" Dean shouted towards the door. The slam of another can hitting the door made them all scurry more towards the middle of the dining room.

"As amusing as that was, I don't think he's actually the main problem," Sam said. "He might be pissy, but it didn't look like he was actually trying to cause death by pineapple."

"Agreed," Dean said. "Let's head for upstairs. The main stairs and Room 10 are where the real action's supposed to be."

They tramped up the stairs without incident, although they were all on alert. If the Lady in Brown really was their killer ghost, the long staircase would be perfect for her to push one of them. Dean paused, pretending to look at something, and positioned himself behind both Sam and Jess. If the Lady in Brown did show up and try to push one of them, he'd make sure they couldn't tumble to the bottom or break their necks.

"Subtle," Sam muttered, rolling his eyes. "Twenty-two years, Dean. You don't think I know your tricks?"

"Don't care," Dean stayed stubbornly behind them, giving Sam's shoulder a small shove.

They glanced into each room as a precaution, but didn't stop until they reached Room 10. The door was closed, but after a moment it creaked partially open. A blast of chilly air hit them.

"What'd you say this ghost's name was?" Dean asked.

"Sally," Jess answered. "She must like us. The stories say that if she likes you, she invites you in. If not, she slams the door in your face."

"Great. I'm liked by a ghost," Dean said softly. He moved into the room and looked around.

Since the inn was so old, the rooms were all fairly small, and it didn't take them long to clear this one. At least nothing had been thrown at their heads up here. Yet.

"What the hell with this place?" Sam wondered. "Two of the ghosts seem pretty active. But not the one we're looking for."

Dean sat down on the bed to think of their next move. The encounters with the testy chef and Sally had him pretty convinced that the Lady in Brown had to be the one who'd killed those kids. He was just about to suggest that they take a walk down to the cliffs when the temperature in the room plummeted.

"Salt guns," Dean shot off the bed and turned, looking for the spirit they'd apparently managed to piss off.

 _Don't sit on the bed…_

It was nothing more than a whisper, but nods to each other told them that all three had heard it. The voice had seemed to come from everywhere, so there was nothing to aim the salt guns at, but none of them lowered them.

 _Mine…_

The whisper came again. A second later, the door was flung open, slamming against the wall.

"Looks like she doesn't like people sitting on her bed," Jess observed.

"I think we've worn out our welcome with Sally. Time to go," Sam suggested. Most of the stories said that Sally wasn't violent, but he didn't exactly want to test that theory.

"We should take a look through the golf course and by the cliffs anyway," Dean agreed. For good measure, he turned and called back into the room, "Sorry, Sally."

He'd just barely managed to get out the door when it slammed shut. He winced at the thought of what would've happened to his fingers if he'd been unlucky enough to get them in the way of that door.

"You're pissing ghosts off left and right around here," Jess said. "First the chef and now Sally."

"What can I say? I have that effect on people," Dean quipped. "Maybe third time will be the charm and the Lady in Brown will like me."

"That would be your luck," Sam laughed. "To piss off the two nice ghosts, but impress the homicidal one."

"You do know we should probably cleanse the whole place, right?" Dean turned serious again. "We're calling these other two 'nice', but they're both more than capable of hurting someone if they wanted to."

Sam nodded, but didn't answer. Any ghost had the potential to turn vengeful, but the research he'd managed to pull up on Uncle Stew and Sally had him doubting that they were a real risk. Both ghosts had died long ago, of natural causes. For whatever reason, they hadn't moved on, but neither had any major reasons to turn vengeful.

They made their way across the golf course and over to the cliffs without incident. Looking out over the view, Sam couldn't help but wrap his arms around Jess's waist. Dean cleared his throat loudly and glared at Sam. Sam glared back, but waved his brother away.

"So, um, Jess," he stammered.

"What is it, honey?" she looked up at him. "This view is gorgeous, isn't it?"

"Absolutely it is," Sam smiled. He toyed with the envelope in his pocket. "I was…I mean, I just…I wanted to…"

He was making a fool of himself and he knew it. He was going about this all wrong. First of all, in all of the sappy romance movies Jess had forced him to watch, when a guy proposed he was supposed to get down on one knee. Second of all, the guys in those movies never got their tongues so twisted that they couldn't even string a full sentence together.

Before he could even start to recover, all hell broke loose. The air around them went frigid and he had a moment to see a pale figure and angry eyes. Then, Jess was careening towards the edge of the cliff and he was frozen in place.

"Jess!" he struggled against the hold that the ghost had over him, but it was no use. He couldn't budge. He had to watch, helpless, as Jess's foot slipped and she disappeared over the edge. At least he had the comfort of knowing he wasn't going to have a lot of time to mourn Jess since he was probably next. At this point, death was going to be preferable.

A shotgun blast sounded and he suddenly found himself free. He lunged for the edge of the cliff, knowing it was too late, but unable to stop. Whatever it took, he was going to find a way to get down there. You always heard stories of people surviving the impossible. This could be one of those situations.

"Sam!" Dean clutched at the back of his jacket. "Stop, we'll find another way down. You'll kill yourself this way!"

"So what?" he snarled.

"Sam?" a small voice came from below them. Wait, from below them?

"JESS!" Sam struggled even harder to get away from his brother.

Peering further over the edge, he saw Jess clutching to a root and a stone that were jutting out away from the cliff face. He stretched, reaching down for Jess, but even with his impossibly long limbs, he could barely brush the tips of her fingers.

"Hang on, baby," he comforted her. "Dean, we need rope. I can't reach her."

Dean was already racing for the car, though. As soon as he'd gotten over the shock of realizing that Jess was actually still alive and clinging to the cliff wall, he'd realized that they wouldn't be able to reach her. He ripped a coil of rope out of the trunk and raced back. The whole time he prayed with everything he had that the Lady in Brown wouldn't attack again.

If Sam hadn't waved him off, Dean knew all three of them would likely be dead right now. It was pure luck that he had walked far enough away that when the Lady in Brown had appeared, she hadn't seemed to notice him. Unfortunately, Sam had been between him and the ghost. The gun was only loaded with rock salt, but Dean knew that at close range there was still the possibility of hurting him. He'd adjusted slightly and fired, but there was no doubt he'd be having nightmares about watching Jess go off the edge of the cliff and being helpless to do anything about it.

Sam was still lying on his stomach, talking soothingly to Jess. Well, as soothingly as he could. In reality, he wanted to break down and panic. Thankfully, a lifetime of training had taught him that panicking was useless and often deadly. Still, seeing the woman he loved hanging on by her fingers made him want to yell and scream and find the ghost who'd done this so he could kill it.

"I'm here," Dean dropped down next to Sam and lowered the rope. He'd tied a loop in the bottom that Jess could slide her foot into instead of just hanging on.

"Put your foot in there, baby," Sam's hands shook, but his voice was steady. "We'll have you back up here in just a second."

Jess's right hand tightened around the root she was clinging to as she slid her left to grab onto the rope. Her feet were pressed into the side of the cliff, and it took a bit more willpower to convince her left foot to respond to her attempts to move it. She had just barely seated her foot in the loop at the end of the rope when the root she'd been holding onto snapped. She clamped both hands tightly around the rope and squeezed her eyes shut.

"It's okay. You're okay," as soon as they had her back on solid ground, Sam pulled Jess close and rocked her back and forth. "I've got you. You're okay."

Jess threw her arms around Sam and held on even tighter than she'd held to the rope. She was trying hard to fight against them, but a sob managed to make its way out and the dam broke. Sam kept rocking her and whispering comforting things into her ear, and Dean reached out to rub her back.

 _Twice now,_ he berated himself. _This is the second hunt you screwed up and someone else got hurt for it._

"Dean," Sam was still holding Jess, but was now looking at his brother. "Stop it."

"Stop what?" Dean decided to play dumb.

"Stop blaming yourself for this," Sam glared at him. "And for what happened to me. They were accidents. Those tend to happen in this line of work. Let's go back to the motel and see if we can figure out who this bitch is."

Dean nodded in agreement. He wasn't about to let go of the guilt on this, though. If he'd been paying attention to how vulnerable they'd made themselves, this wouldn't have happened. They'd been practically taunting the damn ghost, standing that close to the edge of the cliff. He was going to kick himself over that mistake for a long time.

Seeing that Jess wasn't ready to stand on her own yet, Sam scooped her into his arms and carried her back to the car. Her sobs were dying down, but she was still shaking like a leaf. Rather than try to disentangle himself from Jess, Sam crammed them both into the backseat.

Dean got them back to the motel, although they got an odd look from the motel manager on their walk from the car to their room. Running a hand absently through his hair, he realized he was still covered in pineapple bits. Coupled with the fact that Sam was still carrying Jess, they certainly painted quite a picture. Scowling at the manager, Dean quickly let them into the room.

"She's sleeping," Sam laid Jess down on the bed and threw a blanket over her.

"Good," Dean answered. "You should, too. I need a shower first. I hate the smell of pineapple."

"Not a chance," Sam pulled his laptop out of its case. "I need to find out who she was so we can get rid of her. That bitch made a big mistake going after Jess."

Dean raised an eyebrow. Comments like that were more his style than Sam's. Then again, Sam had never had someone to be over-protective of. He wanted to argue with his little brother and order him to get some sleep, but he couldn't. He wanted this Lady in Brown dead, too.

"Okay, but wait until I get out of the shower before you try to kill yourself with research," Dean ordered. "I got a pretty good look at her, so if you can find out what movies were made at that inn, I might be able to ID her."

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

"Dolores Rousse," Dean pointed to an old black-and-white picture on Sam's laptop the next morning.

He and Sam had stayed up most of the night searching for what movies had been made in this area and then looking through pictures of the actors and actresses. Which was a whole new level of frustration, because there weren't a lot of pictures. Jess was sitting on the bed with her back snuggled into Sam's chest.

"Do we know where she was buried, at least?" Jess asked timidly.

"There's only two graveyards around here, and only one that's been here since the 1920's," Sam told her. "Problem is we didn't really think this through. It's not going to just be a simple salt and burn."

"Why not?" Jess looked at them in confusion. "I thought that to get rid of a ghost…"

"Usually," Dean stopped her. "This is different, though. That cliff is over 900 feet high. When she threw herself off of it…well, things wouldn't have been pretty at the bottom. If we miss even one drop of blood or one hair, she won't be gone."

"Don't you think it's a pretty long shot for there to still be blood or hair left from the 1920's?" Jess asked. "It's been eighty-five years."

"We've seen weirder things than that," Dean said.

"We think we might have another plan," Sam said. "It's not the best plan in the world, but sometimes if you can figure out what's holding a spirit here, you can get them to move on willingly."

"So now we have to try and talk to her and figure out what's keeping her here?" Jess turned to look at him skeptically.

"Not if I can figure it out from here," Sam assured her. "Hey, research was practically my second major. There's not much I can't find out once I have a name."

"Why don't we go get breakfast?" Dean suggested. "He gets testy when he's researching a hunt and I could use something to eat. We'll hit that diner again."

"Bring me back a bagel and some coffee," Sam was already moving towards his computer. "You two stay gone for at least an hour. I should have something by then."

Jess followed Dean out to the Impala and slid into the passenger seat. She kept her head down, staring at her hands. She hadn't slept well and had nightmares most of the night of being pushed over that cliff.

"Excuse me!" Dean was just about to pull out of his parking spot when the manager from last night strode up and knocked on his window.

"Can I help you?" Dean asked in his I'm-pretending-to-be-polite-but-I-really-want-you-to-leave-me-alone voice.

"Miss? Are you okay?" the man spoke past Dean, straight at Jess.

"Of course," she looked at him in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just, you didn't look well when you came back yesterday evening," the manager pointed out. "And now you have dark circles under your eyes and scrapes on your arms."

The manager looked meaningfully at Dean. Half-asleep as she was, Jess didn't catch it. Dean, on the other hand, instantly understood what that look meant.

"Why does everybody think all I do is go around beating people?" he slammed his fist into the steering wheel. "Two weeks ago I had to convince a doctor that I don't abuse my brother, now I have to convince some nosy motel manager that I don't beat my brother's girlfriend. She's fine! We had a hiking accident! That's where the scratches came from and that's why she was so shaken up. Anything else you'd like to know, or can we go get some breakfast now?"

"I'm sorry," the manager took a few steps back from the car, but looked utterly unapologetic. "If you're heading to the diner, you'd better be ready to answer more of the same questions, though. We're a small town and we watch out for each other. Everyone's going to want to be sure she's okay."

"Perfect," Dean muttered. "Thanks for the concern, but we're fine."

Throwing the car into gear, he was stopped again. This time by Sam, who came trotting out of their motel room.

"Find something already?" Dean asked as Sam slid in behind him.

"Oh yeah," Sam said. "It turns out that Dolores was in love with that actor-director, Tom Mix. Another actress said that Dolores decided that the inn was the perfect place to tell Tom that she loved him, but he wound up rejecting her. She killed herself just a couple of days after that."

"Hell hath no fury," Dean commented. "So, now we know what's keeping her here. She's still pissed that Tommy-boy didn't like her."

"How do we get her to move on, then?" Jess asked. "I mean, we can't exactly turn back time and get this guy to start loving her."

"No, but we can summon him," Sam said.

"It is way creepy how you said that so comfortably," Jess glanced back at him tiredly.

"You'll get used to it," Dean assured her. "If we can summon him to the inn and get them face-to-face, hopefully they can work out their lovers' quarrel and she can move on."

"But if they don't work it out, aren't we just adding another ghost to the mix?" Jess asked.

"Not likely," Sam hesitated before going on. "If they don't work it out, it's more likely that they'll kill each other. Either way, she's gone."

They ate a quick breakfast at the diner, trying their best to avoid the curious and, in some cases, downright angry looks directed their way. They'd only stayed long enough to eat, but in that short amount of time they'd had to explain at least half a dozen times that Jess was okay.

"That was uncomfortable," Sam muttered as they got back into the car and headed for the inn again.

"Where do you think we should do this when we get there?" Dean asked. "Obviously the cliff would be the most logical place, but we're not doing that."

Both younger hunters shuddered at the thought of going anywhere near the cliffs before the Lady in Brown was gone.

"The lobby, right at the bottom of the main stairs should be good," Sam suggested. "She'll have less to hurt us with in there. I'd say we could try the golf course, but we don't know for sure which path she took."

"Lobby it is, then," Dean nodded. "We have everything we need in the trunk, so hopefully we can get this wrapped up and get out of here."

Jess noticeably tensed as they pulled up in front of the inn again. Sam reached over the back of his seat to squeeze her hand.

"Why don't you stay here?" he suggested. "It won't take us too long to finish this."

"No," Jess answered after taking a minute to think. "I keep telling you guys that I'm capable enough to be a hunter. It's time to prove it. I can't let one scare take me out of the game."

"Atta girl," Dean said. "Let's get this done."

He quickly gathered the needed materials from the trunk and handed them to Sam or Jess. They entered the lobby together and Sam and Dean started setting everything up. Jess tried to watch them so she'd know how to do this next time, but couldn't keep her eyes from gluing themselves to the stairs.

"We'll feel her before we'll see her," Sam said gently.

"I know," Jess sighed. "It'll get cold before she shows up."

As if they'd summoned the ghost by saying that, the temperature in the room started to drop. Jess's hands tightened on her gun while Sam and Dean rushed to get everything in place. Dean snatched up his own gun and stood while Sam started chanting in Latin.

"Hurry up, Sammy," Dean ordered. Dolores hadn't reappeared yet, but the temperature was arctic and there was frost building on the windows.

A moment later she flickered to life about halfway up the staircase. She glared at them and started making her way slowly down the stairs. One hand trailed daintily along the bannister and Dean almost laughed at how ridiculous it seemed. He knew how deadly serious this ghost was, though.

"That's it," Sam said a few seconds later, standing and pointing his gun towards the woman on the stairs.

 _This is a bit anti-climactic,_ Sam thought sarcastically. He'd expected this Tom guy to show up as soon as he'd finished the summoning spell, but here they were several second later and no Tom.

"Dammit," Dean had, as always, positioned himself slightly in front of Sam and Jess. As Dolores continued to make her way down the stairs with no sign of Tom, he started to back towards the door, crowding Sam and Jess and forcing them backwards too. He was just about to shove them out the door and then shoot the ghost in the face when a voice spoke up from behind them.

"Dolly? That you, darlin'?"

"Tom?" Dolores stopped her descent, but the fire didn't fade from her eyes.

"Hey there, love," Tom moved forward as Dean pulled Sam and Jess aside.

"Love?" two of the windows in the lobby exploded inwards and Sam quickly covered Jess to keep any of the flying glass from hitting her. "You have no right to call me that. I confessed my love for you and you spat it back in my face."

"I did," Tom looked down in shame. "I never should've, though. I had a lot of time to think after you…well, after. And I was wrong."

"So all it took was my _death_ to make you see," Dolores hissed.

"Unfortunately it did, and I wish it hadn't," Tom seemed sincere. "I never forgave myself for that. Let me try to make it up to you now? The other side is amazing and we have all the time in the world to make up for the time that we lost."

Dolores hesitated and narrowed her eyes. She looked over to where Sam was standing with his arms still around Jess.

"You love him?" Dolores asked.

"With everything I have," Jess answered immediately.

"If he had done this to you, would you forgive him?"

"In a heartbeat," Jess answered steadily again. "When you love someone, you forgive them. Even if what they did hurt you. No one's perfect, and very few people get a second chance at love. You have that second chance. Take it."

Everyone was quiet for a few more moments. Dolores stared at Jess and Jess stared back confidently. Then Dolores broke their gaze and rushed down the last few steps into Tom's arms.

"Thank you," they both whispered and disappeared.

The temperature instantly started climbing again and they all relaxed with a sigh. Jess leaned back against Sam, trying to work herself up to what she was planning.

"You ready to get out of here, babe?" Sam asked.

"Almost," she answered. "I have to do something first."

"What's that?" Sam frowned, trying to think of anything they may have forgotten.

"I have to go back over by the cliffs," Jess forced the words out. "If I don't, this fear is going to follow me around. I have to get past it and to do that I have to go back there."

"We'll come with you," Dean offered.

"Actually, do you mind letting us go over there alone?" Sam asked, giving Dean a 'back off' look.

"Uh, yeah," Dean held his hand out for their shotguns. "I'll just get the trunk re-packed and…wait. In the car."

"Okay," Jess blinked at Dean's awkwardness. It wasn't like him to be unsure of himself.

She and Sam linked hands as they walked across the golf course. Sam dug into his pocket with his free hand. He slowly eased the envelope open.

Jess's hands started to shake as they got closer to the edge of the cliffs. She'd been planning on going all the way up to the edge of it, but about five feet away she lost her nerve and stopped.

"Give me a second," she said. "I want to go closer."

"This is close enough," Sam squeezed her hand. "If you're able to overlook the whole almost dying thing, the view out here really is amazing."

"Even taking into account the whole almost dying thing, it's breathtaking," Jess laughed. "You can see for miles."

"I've got everything I want to look at right here," Sam took a deep breath and swore he wasn't going to make an ass of himself this time.

"Why Samuel Winchester, that was awfully romantic," Jess turned to smile up at him only to realize that she actually needed to look _down_ at him, which wasn't the normal course of things.

"I don't know if I'm doing this right," Sam managed a shaky laugh. "Honestly, I'm trying to remember all those romance movies I always made fun of you for watching."

"Sam?" Jess had a hand to her mouth and her eyes were already filling up with tears.

"Whether I'm going about this the right way or not," Sam continued. "I knew you were the one from our very first, godawful date."

Even with tears in her eyes, Jess laughed at that. Their first date had been a train wreck. Literally. Sort of, anyway. They'd taken a trip to San Jose, intending to visit the San Jose Museum of Art and have dinner. Since they were there, they thought it would be fun to ride one of the streetcars. And it had been…right up until another streetcar driver had taken a wrong turn and t-boned their streetcar. Sam had been thrown from their car and they'd spent the next five hours in the ER waiting for a doctor to be satisfied that he only had a minor concussion and some cracked ribs, plus waiting for the police to come take their statements. All in all, Jess had been sure Sam was never going to ask her on a second date, so she was pleasantly surprised when he'd called her the next day and apologized for the chaos, asking _her_ to give _him_ a second chance.

Sam finally took his hand out of his pocket, and Jess couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks.

"I don't know how to say this without it sounding sappy, so I'm just gonna say it," Sam could feel tears at the back of his eyes too, and he blinked them back. "I'm already the luckiest guy in the world to have you as my girlfriend and I would be honored if you'd be my wife."

"Oh my god," Jess leaned down and kissed him. "Of course! I love you so much. Of course I will!"

Sam slipped the ring onto her finger and she admired it. It was the most gorgeous ring she'd ever seen in her entire life. As Sam stood back up, she threw herself into his arms.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"You're beautiful," Sam answered. "The ring was my Mom's engagement ring. I know she would've loved you and that she'd have wanted you to have it."

"Oh, Sam," Jess didn't know what to say to that. "I love it and I love you."

"Love you too," Sam kissed her.

"You two lovebirds want to make out up here all day or are we gonna go see some of those historical places you drooled about the whole ride?" Dean spoke up from behind them.

"Let me think about that," Sam laughed, and squeezed Jess even tighter.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _ **Additional Note:**_ _I hope everyone liked this chapter. This has been my favorite one to write so far because I actually chose to use my hometown. Milford, PA is a real place and the story of Cliff Park Inn is true. Teenagers will go anywhere if it's rumored to be haunted, so I spent my fair share of time at Cliff Park Inn and my friends and I have had experiences with all three ghosts: Sally, Uncle Stew, and the Lady in Brown. Sally is fairly particular about who she likes and does not generally appreciate anyone trying to stay in her room. Uncle Stew is also pretty free with tossing his cans of pineapple around (although I have no idea where he gets them). I did take some creative liberties and filled in spotty areas though. Tom Mix really did like to film silent Western movies at Cliff Park, but no one knows for sure if the Lady in Brown was a cast or crew member, so I chose a name at random from one of Mix's movies. I wanted to add in some pictures or links to pictures of Cliff Park Inn and the views surrounding it, but this site won't let me. If you look up "Cliff Park Inn, Milford, PA" it'll pull up some nice pictures so you can get an idea of what it looks like. For some reason, Bing pulls images from all the inns/resorts in the area, but Google has more that are actually of Cliff Park.  
_


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Hey again everybody! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. Even if it wasn't the best one, I had a ton of fun writing it. Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I got an unexpected visit from my best friend who decided to move her happy ass halfway across the country from me (just because she got accepted to go to a really amazing vet school is _no reason_ to leave me alone, lol). She surprised me by coming for a visit, and my jerk/amazing husband knew and didn't tell me, and I cried, and now my kids think Mommy's a nutcase, and my brain got distracted and not focused on writing, and...wait I think that's it. Anywho, here it is finally! I know that up to this point, I've stayed away from actual hunts that the boys took on back in Season 1. I've done that on purpose because we all know and love the show, and if I was just to re-write it even I wouldn't want to read it. I thought that this one was an important one to keep in, though. Ever since I started writing this story, I've been planning and looking forward to writing this chapter. I needed to make sure I had a good grasp on the characters and the dynamic between them before I took this on, but I think this is a good spot for it. I still made a bunch of slight changes to the episode in order to move the story along, but the important stuff is the same. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and as always thank you all so much for the reviews! Only warning for this chapter is some mild cursing, and the fact that this chapter is extra long, even for my out of control word counts.

SavannahSmiles: Since I can't reply to your review, thank you so much! Six chapters in and I still can't seem to rein in the word count, so it's good to hear you say that you like long chapters. And I'm sure you would be a wonderful writer! I was pretty much scared to death when I wrote and posted my very first story, but I'm glad I did. Plus, the SPN family is so supportive of each other, even when it comes to fan fiction. If you want to write, go for it and don't let anybody (even you!) convince you that you can't!

* * *

 _Flashes of light...a woman screaming...crashes from behind her..._

"Sam?"

"Huh?" Sam jerked upright, sweating.

"Baby? Are you okay?" Jess was looking at him nervously in the dim light.

"Another nightmare?" Dean asked. He was already coming out of the bathroom with a glass of water and some aspirin. He handed them to Sam and sat on the edge of the other bed.

"Yeah," Sam quickly took the aspirin. They wouldn't do anything for his headache, but it made Dean feel better if he took them, so he never let on. "Bad one."

He set the glass on the nightstand between the beds and swung his legs down to the floor. He squinted at the clock. 2:00 AM. Too early for him to claim he'd had enough sleep and get up for the day.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jess asked gently.

"No," Sam shook his head and pain ripped through his brain.

Even though Dean and Jess knew about his visions, they assumed he hadn't had one in a while. Sam planned on keeping it that way. Really, there was no point in telling them, anyway. All he'd seen was a woman screaming and slamming her fists against a house window from the inside. Disturbing, sure. But he hadn't seen a street sign or anything else that he could use to identify the house. Why have all three of them suffer, knowing that someone was going to die and that they could do absolutely nothing about it?

"Can you go back to sleep?" Dean asked. He knew there was something more going on, but two in the morning really wasn't the time to argue about what Sam might or might not be hiding.

"Maybe," Sam answered after a quick glance at Jess.

"Which means no," Dean flopped back onto his bed. "If you're gonna deprive yourself of sleep, at least research us a case?"

"I can do that," Sam managed a small smile.

"You should at least try," Jess held onto his arm. "It's not going to do you any good to exhaust yourself."

"I know," Sam leaned over to kiss her.

They laid back down and he wrapped his arms around her. It made Dean feel better for Sam to take the aspirin. It made Jess feel better for Sam to pretend to go back to sleep. He didn't mind playing along. Their concern for him was comforting and going along with what made them happy was easy and the least he felt he could do.

Once he was sure that Jess was asleep, he slid away from her and out of bed. He doubted that Dean was asleep yet, and even if he was, he was the lightest sleeper imaginable. It didn't matter either way. Dean had known from the moment he woke up to hear Sam writhing and whimpering in his sleep that his little brother would be up for the rest of the night.

Sam considered getting dressed and going over to the motel office with his laptop so he wouldn't wake Jess. She was shaping up to be a damn good hunter, but she hadn't quite gotten to the point where she could sleep anywhere, anytime yet. Sometimes the light from his computer would wake her and then he'd have to come up with some fumbling excuse for why he was still up. Mind made up, he started to creep towards his duffel.

"Don't. Even. Think about it," Dean didn't even open his eyes.

"What?" Sam asked innocently.

"Do not leave this room, Sam," this time Dean cracked one eye open to fix Sam with his "big brother" glare. "It's two in the morning. I swear to god if you even think about walking out that door I will drag your ass back here and...no, better yet, I'll wake Jess up and have _her_ drag your sorry ass back in here."

"I'm pretty sure I can handle any small-town punk wannabe's that might happen to be around," Sam grumbled. "Damn overprotective big brothers."

"Damn irritating little brothers," satisfied, Dean closed his eyes again.

"Yeah, yeah," Sam whispered. "G'night, jerk."

"Night, bitch," Dean shot back.

* * *

"Got anything good?" Dean asked the next morning, still half asleep and clutching his cup of coffee like it was a lifeline.

"A couple of possibilities," Sam had to smother a laugh and motioned to his computer sitting on the motel room table. "I left everything open so you could take a look."

"When did you have time to look these up?" Jess asked after clicking through Sam's research.

"Uh, this morning," Sam figured it was only a partial lie. Two AM did still technically count as morning, after all.

"What part of the morning?" Jess demanded.

"The, um, early part?" Sam tried.

"Dammit, Sam," Jess shook her head.

She looked down at the table. Nothing was ever going to stop her from loving Sam, but the love of her life could drive even a saint to drink sometimes. Her gaze fell on the notepad Sam had spent all night doodling on. Something about that tree looked familiar to her, although she couldn't place it. She picked up the notepad to get a closer look, and her gaze fell on the picture that Sam had set as his computer's background.

"The closest one is in...Upstate New York," Sam said, sitting on his and Jess's bed. He dug at his eyes. The lack of sleep had them hurting like hell. "There's a...g-guy there w-who...who...god..."

"Sammy?" Dean was instantly kneeling next to his brother and Jess's head snapped up. "Sammy, what's wrong?"

"My...my head," Sam hunched down into himself and jammed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Headache. Bad one."

"This doesn't look like just a headache," Jess nudged Dean aside and tried to pry Sam's hands away from his face. "Sam, let me see."

Shaking, Sam had to use all of his will to open his eyes and then a little more to keep from slamming them shut immediately. This had only happened once or twice before, but there was no mistaking this pain. He already knew it wasn't just a headache, even before the flashes of light that preceded his visions starting going off like fireworks.

A particularly nasty one broke his resolve. Wrapping his arms over his head, he let himself curl into a ball on the bed. Vaguely he could hear Dean and Jess both scrambling and calling his name, but their voices were quickly fading. He started to be able to see familiar shapes through the light flashes and then the vision hit him full force.

Dean was panicking. You wouldn't think that a 6'4" giant could fold himself into a trembling ball that small, but somehow his little brother had managed it. He pried Sam's hands away from his head and saw that although his eyes were glassy and unfocused, they were darting around like he was looking at or for something.

"Jess, what the hell is going on with him?" Dean tried to keep his voice calm and failed spectacularly.

"It looks like a seizure," Jess's voice shook, but she still managed to look calmer than Dean

"Sam doesn't have seizures," Dean said. "He's not epileptic."

"He doesn't have to be," Jess told him. "In the grand scheme of things, this looks like a mild one. He should come out of it on his own within a couple of minutes."

"Should?!" Dean didn't like the sound of that.

"Dean, you need to calm down," Jess took his hand. "Sam's probably going to be confused when he comes out of this. He might even be violent, so we need to be calm to be able to help him"

Just like she knew it would, that settled Dean down instantly. Jess had to smile at that. The lengths they were all willing to go for each other...it was actually almost intimidating.

"Dean!" Sam shot up on the bed and immediately groaned.

"Whoa, easy tiger," Dean reached out and gently, but firmly, pushed him back down. "Take it easy. Jess says you had a seizure."

"What? No, not a seizure," Sam draped an arm across his eyes. The room was way to bright for his pounding head to agree with. "It was a vision."

"A vision?" Dean asked. "Sammy, you haven't said anything about your visions since the hospital."

"Doesn't mean I haven't been having them," Sam was in too much pain to keep up his charade. "It just didn't make sense to tell you because I never get enough from the visions to help anyone."

"Is this from one of your visions?" Jess grabbed the notepad.

"The one I've been having for the last day or two," Sam squinted at the notepad and covered his eyes again.

Unsure of what he should do, Dean did the only thing he knew how to. He walked shakily to get Sam a glass of water and some more aspirin. He shook a few of the pills out of the bottle, started to put the cap back on, then considered and added two more. Sam had been in a lot of pain. An extra aspirin or two might be necessary.

"Here," he handed the water and pills to him, just like he had last night.

"Thanks, Dean," Sam managed a weak smile.

"So this is definitely from one of the visions?" Jess confirmed. "I thought you said you never get enough from your visions to help?"

"I don't. What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"This tree," Jess pointed to it, and then Sam's computer. "Where was that picture taken?"

The picture was one of the few that had managed to be saved. It was the one of his parents, him, and Dean in front of their house in Lawrence.

"Lawrence, Kansas," Dean said woodenly. "Why?"

"Look," Jess rolled her eyes at how thick they were being. She tapped the screen, pointing to an old tree in the background of the picture. A tree that matched Sam's sketch exactly.

* * *

"You okay?" Sam asked cautiously as they rolled to a stop in front of the house from his vision. The house where their mother had died.

"I'll get back to you on that," Dean's eyes were glued to the house. "Let's just do this and get it over with, huh?"

The three hunters walked to the door and Sam rang the bell. A woman answered a moment later and Sam froze. It wasn't that he exactly distrusted his visions, but he'd never had a chance to prove them right. Until now. The woman standing in front of him was the one from his vision. He vaguely heard his brother start his usual spiel and broke in.

"I'm Sam Winchester," he interrupted. "This is my brother, Dean. And my fiancee, Jessica. Dean and I lived here when we were kids."

"Winchester," the woman looked thoughtful. "Yeah. You know, I think I found some of your old pictures down in the basement. I'm Jenny. Why don't you come in and I'll get them?"

"Thank you," Sam said as Jenny led them in.

Dean hesitated a second before eventually following them in. Almost instantly he was assaulted with memories. Other than the differences in furniture and decoration, it looked exactly as he remembered it. The downstairs had been entirely unaffected by the fire, and Dean found it hard to breathe. He followed Jenny on shaky legs as she led them through the living room and into the kitchen.

The kitchen was a whole new barrage of memories and Dean had to blink hard. The kitchen was exactly the same as he remembered, too. He'd spent a lot of time in here with his Mom. She had loved to cook and bake. He could remember spending hours in this kitchen. Mom teaching him how to make a pie. Mom making him a peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Mom letting him try to feed baby Sam and laughing when Sammy spit mashed peas back at him.

"...rats in the walls," Dean finally realized that Jenny was still talking to them and his ears perked up at that.

"Rats?" he asked. "Have you seen them? Or just heard them?"

"Just scratching," Jenny frowned.

"Mommy," a little girl sitting at the table doing homework motioned Jenny over. "Ask them."

"Honey," Jenny sighed.

"Ask us what, Sari?" Jess went over to kneel down next to the little girl. "It's okay. You can ask us anything. Sam and Dean, they're big, but they're actually just big teddy bears."

Sari giggled at that and even Sam managed a smirk as he said, "You're ruining my image."

"I was wondering if it was here when you lived here?" Sari looked up at Sam.

"If what was here?" Sam asked.

"The monster in my closet," she clarified.

"Sweetie, there's nothing in your closet," Jenny assured her.

"Yes there is!" Sari insisted. She looked at Sam and Jess pleadingly. "There's a woman and she's on fire!"

You would've thought that Sam and Dean had been electrocuted by the way they stiffened, Jess thought. Before the looks on their faces could scare Sari, she shot an elbow into Sam's ribs and cleared her throat to get Dean's attention.

"I'm sure it was just a bad dream, honey. You have nothing to worry about," she said to the little girl. "Jenny, thank you so much for inviting us in. Sam, Dean."

The brothers allowed Jess to herd them towards the door. They both managed a stiff sort of goodbye to Jenny before collapsing into the car.

"Are you two okay?" Jess asked after a minute.

"A woman on fire?" Sam looked at Dean. "Do you think this could...have something to do with what happened to Mom?"

"I don't know," Dean jammed the keys into the ignition with more force than either Sam or Jess had ever seen him use on the Impala. "We need to stop for gas and something to eat."

He peeled away from the curb and less than a minute later had them at a nearby gas station. Without saying anything, he stormed out of the car and into the little convenience store. Sure that he was out of sight and earshot of his brother and Jess, he pulled his cell phone out. He grabbed snack food absently off the shelf as he scrolled through his contacts to find the right number. Punching the call button he waited for Dad's voicemail to pick up since he knew there was no chance of the man actually answering.

"Dad, it's me," he said when, true to form, he was forwarded to voicemail. "Sam, Jess, and I are in Lawrence. There's something going on at our old house, and we don't know for sure, but it might have something to do with Mom. We just...we need some help on this one, so if you get this either call me back or get to Kansas. Please, Dad."

He gathered a few more things into his arms and headed for the counter. He glanced back towards the car, checking on Sam and Jess. Sam was leaning against the Impala, pumping gas and holding Jess's hand. He paid and walked back outside.

"What's our next move?" Jess was asking.

"I have no idea," Sam ran a hand through his hair. "This isn't just another job. I mean, it is, but it's not."

"Well, if it was just another job, what would our first move be?" Jess tried to steer the conversation and keep Sam's mind working.

"We'd try to figure out what we're up against," Sam knew what Jess was doing and appreciated it. "In this case, we know what we're up against, though."

"Are we sure?" Jess asked. "Absolutely, one hundred percent sure that it's the demon?"

"What else would it be?" Dean finally said, frowning at the fact that neither of them had noticed. He hadn't even been trying to be quiet, so they just hadn't been paying attention. Not paying attention tended to be deadly in their line of work and he made a mental note to make them train at that when they were done here.

"I don't know," Jess admitted. "But be honest with yourself. If this was a normal, everyday hunt, would you even consider going near it without doing some research?"

"She has a point," Sam agreed. "Maybe we should ask some questions before we go in, guns blazing. Didn't Dad co-own a garage or something around here?"

"Yeah, but he didn't know much about hunting or the supernatural while we lived around here," Dean said.

"It's still a start," the pump clicked and Sam replaced everything. "Any other job and we'd make sure we covered every base."

Dean didn't comment, but he did start driving in the direction he thought he remembered was right. He had only been five or six when they left Lawrence to start hunting full-time, so he hoped his memory of the garage that Dad used to own was right. The garage he pulled up to a few minutes later looked like it _might_ be familiar. That was really all he had to go on right now.

"Mr. Guenther?" Dean asked cautiously as he walked up to the open bay.

"That's me. What can I do for you?" a man called from underneath a car.

"I'm, um, I'm Officer Bonham," Dean lied and then motioned to first Sam and then Jess. "This is my partner, Officer Simmons and a new addition to the force, Officer Wilson. The department is re-opening some cold cases and we were assigned the Winchester case."

"John Winchester?" the mechanic pulled himself out from under the car. "What would you like to know?"

"Anything you can tell us," Dean said.

"I can't tell you much about the disappearance, but I can tell you some about John," Mr. Guenther wiped his hands on a rag as he spoke. "He was a good guy. Real family man. Had a wife and two of the cutest boys you'd ever see and he doted on all three of `em. He changed after the fire, though. Losing Mary...well, it would change anyone to lose someone you love like that. He started to insist that something had killed her, though. He was convinced of it. Started seeing a psychic, got some weird ideas in his head about monsters after him, and then he and the boys disappeared."

"Do you know the name of the psychic he was seeing?" Sam asked. "You know, so we can talk them, too."

"No," Mr. Guenther said. "I imagine whoever he was seeing had to have been local, though. His younger boy, poor little thing was less than a year old, wound up being treated for migraines and John didn't like to take him far from home."

"An infant that suffered from migraines?" Sam frowned and tried to ignore the looks that both Dean and Jess were giving him. "That sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?"

"I thought it did, but what do I know, huh?" the mechanic shrugged. "Eventually they started to clear up for the little guy and a couple of months after that all three of them were gone. It was about eighteen months, start to finish. From the night of the fire until the Winchesters disappeared. Wish I had more to tell you."

"We really appreciate your time. Thank you," Jess smiled and the three hunters made their way back to the car.

"Did you know about that?" Sam refused to look at Dean.

"That your migraines started when you were six-freakin'-months old?" Dean asked. "No. I remember you crying a lot more after the...but no, I didn't know. It's not like a four-year-old was going to know what a migraine was anyway."

"Which leaves the question, did it have anything to do with the demon?" Sam slumped down in his seat.

"Focus on one thing at a time, guys," Jess reminded them gently. "We need to look up psychics in the area and see if any of them knew your father."

* * *

"Your wife's crazy about you, you hear? You have nothing to worry about," a small, round black woman led a relieved looking man through the front room and out the door. She sent him off, and once he was out of earshot she _tsk_ -ed. "Poor man, his wife is cold-banging the gardener."

"But you just said..." Jess started, but stopped herself. "Oh. Well, I guess people would rather hear good news than bad."

"You got it, honey," according to the phone book and Dad's journal, the woman's name was Missouri. "Now, you three come on back. Been too long since I've had a visit from a Winchester."

Sam and Dean hesitated a step. Both of them reached out at the same time and firmly pushed Jess slightly behind them.

"Oh my god, you two," Jess rolled her eyes and pushed her way past them.

"Well, let me take a look at all of you," Missouri turned with a big smile. "You boys have certainly grown up!"

The short woman reached up and patted Dean on the cheek, and then reached out to grasp Sam and Jess's hands. The moment their hands made contact she gasped.

"Oh, honey! Congratulations you two! Although it took you long enough, boy," Missouri looked up at Sam disapprovingly. "Now, you three must be here about the house. Sit, let's have a chat."

"You know what's going on in our old house?" Dean asked as they sat on the couch, Jess between them. Even though the psychic woman seemed somewhat trustworthy, protective instincts still flared up in both brothers. Instinctively, Dean wrapped an arm around Jess while Sam put a hand on her leg. She rolled her eyes, but didn't push them away.

"I am a psychic, honey," Missouri reminded him. Suddenly she sat forward and snatched a wooden spoon off of the coffee table. Pointing it straight at Dean she warned, "Boy, you put your foot on my table and I'll whack you one."

"I didn't do anything!" Dean shifted in his seat.

"Yeah, well you were thinking about it," the psychic woman waved the spoon around threateningly.

Sam and Jess didn't bother to even try to hold back their laughter. The only person Sam had ever seen who could control Dean that quickly and efficiently was Dad. Seeing Missouri make short work of his defenses was hilarious, in his opinion.

"Now," she set her spoon back down on the table. "I've kept an eye on the place so I know that something's going on in your old house, but I don't know what. You boys have been hunters long enough to know this, but I doubt you've gotten around to telling Jess yet. When something evil visits a place, it leaves it open for other evil to follow. That house is the perfect example. Without going in I can't be sure, but I don't think this is the same thing that killed Mary."

"I don't think it is either," Sam admitted.

"You don't?" Dean raised an eyebrow. "Were you planning on sharing that with the rest of us or were just gonna keep your damned mouth shut? OW!"

"That's for cussin' at your brother," Missouri, re-armed with her spoon, had given Dean a healthy whack on his thigh. "He didn't tell you until now because he was worried about how you'd react. Although if you were thinking clearly you'd know good and well that demons don't walk around on fire."

Dean conceded sheepishly. He did know that, but this job had his head screwed up nine ways from Sunday. Plus, he didn't want to disagree with Missouri and risk running afoul of her spoon again.

"If I can take a walk through the house, I can find out what it is," Missouri continued.

"What are we waiting for, then?" Dean practically leaped off of the couch. "We ran out of there so fast before that we never got the pictures that Jenny said she found."

"Dean, we can't just go tramping in and out of that lady's house whenever we feel like it," Jess stopped him. "She's got two kids. We're lucky she even let us in once."

"Don't you worry, honey," Missouri patted Jess's hand. "I have a feeling that whatever is going on in that house is gonna make her a lot more receptive to hearing what we have to say. Now Dean, help me to that old car that you got from your father and Sam and Jess, you two scrunch in the backseat. My old lady bones are too old to be riding in the back like that."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean had had more than enough of talking back to her for one day. Replaying what he'd just said he quickly corrected himself. "I mean, not that you're old. I just meant..."

He didn't know exactly what he was babbling about, but he was saved by laughs coming from all three other people in the room. Finally loosening his hold on Jess, Dean did as he'd been told and helped Missouri out to the Impala. He couldn't help a smirk as Sam crammed his lanky frame into the backseat, though. Baby might be a boat of a car, but someone Sam's size was simply not made for sitting in a backseat.

When they got back to the old house again, Missouri tensed as soon as they stepped foot on the property. They looked at her in concern, but when she didn't offer anything Dean rang the doorbell. A flushed and clearly upset Jenny answered the door a few seconds later.

"Oh, hi," she clung to her son tightly.

"Hi," Dean put on what he hoped was a comforting smile. "I'm really sorry. We completely forgot all about the pictures you said you had for us, and we were talking with a family friend who said she'd love a chance to see the old house again."

"Um, listen, it's really not a good time right now," Jenny started to step back, and Dean reached out to stop her from closing the door.

"Dean!" Missouri swatted the back of his head. "Can't you tell that this woman's scared half out of her mind? I'm sorry, honey. Dean means well, he just lets his mouth get too far out ahead of his brain. My name is Missouri and I'm a psychic. Am I wrong when I say that you've noticed things that have been out of the ordinary lately?"

Jenny squeezed her son even tighter, which made Jess wince. She was going to squeeze the poor kid right in half if she kept that up.

"No. I...I don't know what you're talking about," Jenny tried to deny.

"Honey, we're here to help," Missouri assured her. "I know you may not fully believe it, but there is something evil in this house. All we want to do is find it and get rid of it before it can hurt you or the precious little ones you have here."

Jenny hesitated for another few moments before finally stepping aside to let them all in. She sat down on the couch in the living room, setting her son on her lap. Jess made eye contact with Sam and Dean and they both nodded. Walking through the house was apt to be difficult for them, especially Dean, and Jenny needed a shoulder right now anyway.

Missouri led them directly up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms. A feeling of familiarity hit Dean again as they climbed the stairs. At the door to the bedroom he stopped, though. This part of the house had obviously needed to be completely redone, but it didn't change the pit in his stomach.

"This is the most likely place for it to be," Missouri started to circle the room slowly.

"Why's that?" Sam looked around. It was clearly the little girl's room, with stuffed animals, dolls, and a pink bedspread. Not exactly what he'd peg as a source of evil.

"Because this used to be your nursery," Missouri shattered his thoughts with just one sentence.

Sam couldn't help looking up at the ceiling. This very room was where his mother had died? Suddenly he couldn't breathe and he finally realized that Dean hadn't actually stepped foot through the bedroom door.

Missouri opened the door to the closet in the room and paused there for a minute or two. She left the bedroom and the boys followed her through the rest of the upstairs. Dean almost immediately recognized the little boy's room as the one that had been his. He had to blink hard to clear his eyes of the tears that wanted to spring up at the memories. He could remember his parents playing with him in this room, and eventually being allowed to play with baby Sammy as long as Mom was around to make sure he didn't put anything small in his mouth. Sam noticed, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He did squeeze Dean's shoulder in a show of comfort, but was shrugged off. He didn't take it personally. Dean didn't like to show weakness of any kind, which frustrated the hell out of Sam because this wasn't weakness.

After making their rounds on the second floor, Missouri led them back downstairs. The boys assumed that she was going to want to tour the first floor as well, but she just walked over to where Jenny and Jess were sitting on the couch. One of them had made tea and both women were holding cups. Jenny seemed to be much more at ease, though.

"So?" Jess jumped up.

"I know what it is," Missouri nodded. "A poltergeist. It's a nasty one, too. But don't you worry," she added to Jenny hurriedly. "I know how to get rid of it. We'll need some time to put things together, but by tonight we should be ready to cleanse the house."

"Should we go somewhere?" Jenny asked nervously. "If this thing is that dangerous..."

"Poltergeists are usually most active after dark," Sam answered. "It doesn't mean that they can't do anything during the day, but they usually don't. If you have family or friends nearby it wouldn't be a bad idea to go stay with them, but if you don't it's probably safe enough to stay until we get back."

"Once we get here, you'll need to take your babies somewhere else, though," Missouri told her. "It won't take more than an hour or two to purify the house, but I'd like to have you well clear just in case of anything."

"Anything?" Jenny looked to Jess.

"Everything will be fine," Jess patted her hand. "We should probably go start getting things set up. The sooner we do, the sooner we can be back to take care of it."

* * *

"Remind me one more time," Jess looked at the bags filled with herbs, dirt, and a whole bunch of other things that she was handed.

"One bag goes in each corner of the house," Missouri explained patiently. "North, south, east, and west on each floor. It'll purify the house."

"Does anyone else find it ironic how much things have changed in just a few weeks?" Jess asked. She took Sam's hand as they walked towards the house for the third time that day. "You two were panicked as hell that my first hunt was going to be a poltergeist and you didn't want me anywhere near it."

"I still don't want you anywhere near a poltergeist," Dean muttered. "Either of you."

"Gotta cut the umbilical cord at some point," Sam teased, which just earned him a cuff on the back of his head.

Jenny opened the door before they even had a chance to knock. Her face was stressed and she fiddled with the kids' jackets that she had clutched in her hands.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea," she said by way of greeting. "I just don't know how comfortable I am with..."

"Jenny," Jess stepped forward and took the woman's hands. "This is the only idea. It's way too dangerous to let this thing stay."

"I know, I know," Jenny hung her head. "Things have just be so stressful with my husband, buying the new house, and moving. Now this. I didn't even believe in this sort of thing until today!"

"Believe me, a couple of months ago I didn't believe in it either," Jess took one of the coats and started bundling the little girl into it.

"How did you come to terms with it?" Jenny asked.

Jess hesitated. While they'd been waiting on the couch that afternoon, Jenny had explained that she'd recently lost her husband. She felt like it would be rubbing salt in the wound if she said that Sam was the one to help her get through it.

"Loved ones," she finally settled for, looking towards Sam and Dean. "I have those two giant children, and you have your two adorable little ones."

The kids finally bundled up, Jess took Sari's hand while Jenny picked Richie up. Jess helped buckle Sari into the car and waved as Jenny drove away. She turned to see Sam standing in the door smiling at her.

"What?" she asked a little self-consciously.

"You," Sam wrapped his arms around her. "You're so great with kids."

"I love them," Jess said. "I _was_ planning on being a pediatrician, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Sam dropped a kiss onto the tip of her nose. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

"So here's how we're gonna do this," Dean announced as Sam and Jess joined him in the living room. "I'll take the basement. Jess, you and Missouri will stick together here on the first floor, and Sam you'll take upstairs. We do this as fast as we can. It's going to figure out what we're doing pretty quick, and things will get violent after that so stay on your toes."

"Yes sir," Sam and Jess snapped off mock salutes at the same time.

"Obnoxious," Dean muttered affectionately as he headed into the basement.

Sam darted upstairs while Jess and Missouri headed for the right spot in the wall of the living room to place their first bag. They all felt a little bad for knocking holes in the walls, but the bags were small so they'd only need to make small holes and they'd brought supplies with them to fix it. Right now the priority was getting the bags placed, though.

Dean got two of his bags into the walls and was working on the third when it hit him. There was a scraping sound and he didn't even have time to react before a bureau slammed into him, pinning him against the wall and knocking the wind out of him. He pushed at it, but it stayed stubbornly stuck for the moment. From almost directly above him he heard twin screams and thuds that sounded like multiple things hitting either the floor or wall.

Jess and Missouri looked at each other with wide eyes from their spot behind the overturned table. Jess silently thanked Sam and Dean for drilling hyper-vigilance into her. She'd acted on instinct as soon as she heard rattling, pushing Missouri down and flipping the table on its side. Not even a second later five or six knives had slammed into the table, the points of some of the bigger ones actually coming all the way through the wood.

"I guess it's figured out that we're here," Jess said unnecessarily.

"Two more to go," Missouri reminded her. "You take one and I'll take the other. That way we'll get this done with faster."

"As long as we don't tell the boys," Jess managed a small joke.

"Honey, you leave them to me," Missouri smiled tightly.

Upstairs, it had taken everything Sam had not to race down the stairs at the sound of Jess and Missouri's screams. He had to force himself to move and focus on the task at hand. They'd trained Jess the best that they could and he had to trust that both her training and Missouri's skills would keep them safe. It didn't mean he had to like it though, so he hurried to place the rest of his hex bags as fast as he could.

Dean flew up the stairs as soon as he had crammed the last hex bag into the last wall of the basement. He spared a quick look at the table, upended with half a dozen knives sticking out of it, and shuddered. A quick look showed Missouri and Jess both rushing back into the living room.

"You two were supposed to stay together," Dean hissed.

"We did at first and you can see how that went," Jess motioned towards the table. "We needed to get the last two done as fast as possible, so we split up. Everything's in place here."

"Basement, too," Dean let it go for now. He glanced up at the stairs leading to the second floor nervously. Sam should be done by now.

"Where's Sam?" Jess was also looking at the stairs, as if willing Sam to come down them.

"He should be done by now," Dean's instincts were buzzing. "Stay here. I'm going upstairs to check on him."

Taking the stairs two at a time, he ran through the second floor looking for his brother. Coming to the last bedroom (and wasn't that always the way) he finally found his brother. What he saw didn't do anything to relieve his panic, though. Sam was lying on his back on the floor, with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck. He was scrabbling at it with his fingers, but his struggles were getting weaker.

"Sammy!" Dean raced to his brother's side and knocked his hands away. He pulled at the cord with every ounce of his strength, but couldn't budge it.

Sam started to go limp and something dropped from his hand. Dean realized that it was the last hex bag and that getting it into the wall was probably his only chance to save his brother's life. He scooped it up immediately and kicked at the wall until he put a hole in the drywall. Shoving the bag into the wall, there was a flash of light, but he didn't care about that. He dropped back to his knees next to Sam and pulled at the cord around his neck again. This time it came loose.

"Oh thank god," Dean's voice shook slightly as he pulled Sam to a sitting position and quickly unwrapped the cord. Once he had him free, he pulled him into a rough hug, cradling Sam's head to his shoulder for a moment.

"Dean?" Sam's voice was weak and hoarse, and there were nasty raw-looking marks on his throat, but he was alive.

"Yeah, buddy," Dean pulled him to his feet. "That's it. It's gone."

He tried to put one of Sam's arms over his shoulder. He had every intention of helping his brother down the stairs, but Sam shot him his patented bitchface and Dean settled for clutching the younger man's jacket.

"Sam!" Jess rocketed into his arms as soon as Sam's feet hit the first floor. She took in the marks on his throat. "Oh my god, what happened?"

"Poltergeist got hold of me," he managed a weak smile. "I'm okay."

"Does this mean that it's over?" Jess asked, looking to Missouri.

The short woman looked around with a frown of concentration on her face. She stayed like that for several minutes before finally nodding.

"It's gone," she answered.

"Are you sure?" Sam didn't know why he was questioning her now, but there was _something_ in the back of his mind. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but he felt like he'd missed something. Something big.

"As sure as I can be, honey," Missouri looked at him. "Why?"

"No reason," Sam rubbed at his forehead. "Tired, I guess."

"Hello?" Jenny walked cautiously in the front door and gasped at the destruction.

"Jenny. Hi," Jess looked around sheepishly. "I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Jenny asked.

"Things got a little...rough," Dean explained.

"We'll take care of the mess," Sam offered, starting to head for the kitchen.

"Jess and I will take care of the mess," Dean pushed him down onto the couch.

"I'm going to want to take a look at those when we're done," Jess added, pointing to the marks on Sam's neck. "We don't need them getting infected."

"I'm fine," Sam insisted, but stayed seated. He could deny it all he wanted, but being nearly strangled to death by an electrical cord wielding poltergeist had drained his energy. He still felt like he couldn't quite catch his breath and there was still that damn feeling in the back of his mind that he'd missed something.

"Are you okay?" Jenny was looking at him, still standing just inside the door.

"Fine," Sam repeated, managing a small smile. "The upstairs isn't too bad. If the kids need to go to bed, the only thing that's broken as far as I know is a lamp in the office."

"Is it gone?" Jenny asked.

"Yes, it is," Missouri told her, giving Sam's voice a rest.

"Thank you!" Jenny's whole body seemed to sag in relief. "I'm going to get Sari and Richie to bed and I'll be right back down."

"If there's anything else broken up there, give a shout and I'll come up," Missouri offered, sitting on the couch next to Sam.

The cleanup of the house went smoothly and soon enough they were saying their goodbye's to Jenny and, a few miles later, Missouri. Sam continually fidgeted in his seat, though. Finally, he couldn't keep it to himself anymore.

"We have to go back, Dean," he announced.

"Back? To Missouri's?" Dean asked. "What for?"

"No, back to the house," Sam clarified.

"Honey, we took care of it," Jess leaned forward and rubbed Sam's tense shoulders. "The poltergeist is gone."

"Maybe," Sam said cryptically. "It's just...I have this feeling."

"Another vision?" Jess asked.

"Not a vision," Sam shook his head. "Just a feeling."

"You're gonna have to give me more to go on than that," Dean looked at his brother out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't have more to go on than that," Sam admitted. "I know it isn't over, though. Please, Dean. Just one night. If nothing happens then I swear I'll apologize to you and Jess and we'll move on. Just, please."

He turned his puppy dog eyes on his brother. If there was one thing Dean could never resist, it was the puppy dog eyes. They had worked on him since Sam first learned how to use them at about five years old, and they'd never stopped.

"Damn those eyes," Jess laughed, looking knowingly at Dean.

For what felt like the umpteenth time that day, Dean pulled the Impala up to the curb across from their old house and shut the engine off. He glanced over, looking for anything that might seem out of the ordinary. There was a light on in the master bedroom, but nothing other than that.

"I don't know, Sammy," he scowled. "Looks like everything's on the up and up to me."

"Then go to sleep," Sam shrugged. "If anything happens I'll wake you up."

"Baby, you can't stay up the whole night," Jess scolded. "You've barely gotten any sleep the past few days. You're going to make yourself sick."

"In that case I guess it's a good thing we have our very own doctor," Sam teased.

Jess reached forward and pulled Sam's head back, forcing him to bend backwards over his seat. She kissed him hard and then looked into his eyes.

"Get a room, you two," Dean grumbled.

"When this is all over," Jess ignored him. "You and I are going to find someplace private and have a long chat about you constantly running yourself ragged, thinking that you have to take responsibility for goddamn _everything_ , and acting like you need to make up for something."

"Yes ma'am," Sam said in mock fear.

Over in the driver's seat Dean muttered something else that neither of them caught. He laughed, clearly having amused himself.

"Do I want to know?" Sam asked.

"Nope, nothing to share," Dean laughed. "Except...are you sure that's the only reason you want to find a nice, private place?"

"Dean!" Sam and Jess both yelled. At the exact same time, Sam reached out to punch his brother in the shoulder and Jess slapped the back of his head. Which only served to make him laugh harder.

They all settled and Dean leaned back and closed his eyes. He took a minute to marvel at how much more laughter there had been since Jess started hunting with them. Not that he and Sam had ever been completely serious. They were brothers after all, and you can't put two hyperactive boys together without them getting up to some sort of high jinks. But it had never been like this. Jess was a piece they hadn't even known was missing, but now that they had her, they were finally complete. Dean snorted to himself. Sam would have a field day if he could hear his sappy, girly thoughts right now.

Three hours passed with no sign of anything. Jess had fallen into a light sleep in the back and Dean was dozing in and out, but still woke up every few minutes to check on Sam. On one of these checks, he noticed Jenny finally turn her light out and he sighed.

"Stop whining," Sam rolled his eyes.

"I could be sleeping in an actual bed right now, you know," he groaned, shifting a little.

"Right, like we've never slept in the car before," Sam's was still focused on the house. Specifically the master bedroom's big picture window. That was the window that had featured prominently in his vision and the more time that went by, the more he was drawn to it.

Dean grumbled and shifted again, trying to find a more comfortable position. He was just allowing himself to settle back into a doze when he felt Sam tense. His eyes popped open less than a second before Sam started shaking him with one hand and scrambling for the door handle with the other.

"Dean! Jess!" he yelled. "Look!"

He finally managed to grab the handle and wrench the door open. Dean's eyes shot up to the picture window that Sam had been so focused on and saw Jenny standing at it. She was screaming and pounding on the window with her fists. The three hunters ran from the car to the house as fast as they could.

"Stay here," Dean stopped Jess at the door. "Sam and I will get Jenny and the kids. We don't need anyone else getting stuck in there."

Without waiting to see if she was going to obey the order, Dean followed Sam into the house. Jess considered ignoring him and going in anyway, but finally decided to stay where she was and work on calming herself. Jenny was going to need to see a calm face, and if staying out here to collect herself meant she'd be able to help the woman, she'd stay out here and collect herself.

"Sam, get the kids!" Dean ordered, charging up the stairs.

He headed straight for Jenny's room and after realizing that the door was sealed and he couldn't kick it down, he ordered Jenny to the other side of the room. Pulling his pistol, he shot the lock, praying that it would work and praying Sam wouldn't come running at the shot. Thankfully the door swung open and Jenny raced out straight into his arms.

"My kids!" she shouted.

"Sam's got them," he assured her. "Let me get you out. He'll be right behind us."

Meanwhile, Sam had retrieved Richie from his room and, holding the boy in the crook of his arm, headed for Sari's room. When he slammed the door of his old nursery open he found the little girl sitting up in bed, clutching her bedspread in her hands, and screaming at a flaming figure walking slowly towards her. The sound of Sam coming into the room caused her to look his way.

"SAM!" she sobbed.

"Come here," Sam edged around the figure and pulled Sari into his other arm. "It's okay, I've got you. Shut your eyes tight, okay? I'm gonna get you out of here."

Sliding past the fiery woman again, Sam made his way down the stairs as fast as he could. Clutching both children tightly, he had just reached the first floor and was heading for the door when his feet slowed. Realizing what was about to happen he set the kids down gently, putting Richie's hand into Sari's.

"Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can," he ordered, just in time. He felt himself pulled backwards and heard Sari scream. He slammed into a wall and was immediately thrown towards the table, which collapsed under him when he hit it.

Jess had Jenny clutched in her arms and was holding the woman to keep her from running back into the house. Dean was standing tensely next to them, and Jess reached out one hand to clutch his sleeve. She wanted Sam out of that house as much as Dean did, but she couldn't let him run back in there.

"We don't need anyone else getting stuck in there," she repeated his words. "He'll be..."

Their anxiety ramped up another notch as they heard Sari's high-pitched scream. A second later Sari and Richie ran through the door and Jenny collapsed to her knees to pull both of them to her. Dean and Jess shared a quick, panicked look and then Dean leaned down to shake Sari's shoulder.

"Sari, where's Sam?" he asked, not even trying to hide the fear in his voice.

"Something got him!" Sari cried. "It pulled him back into the house."

Dean and Jess whipped around simultaneously to run towards the house. They had just gotten to the door when it slammed shut in front of them. Jess tugged at the door handle frantically.

"It won't open!" she yelled at Dean.

Except that Dean was no longer by her side. She looked around and saw him already at the trunk of the Impala. Digging around quickly, he slammed the trunk and raced back for the house with an axe. Without even hesitating he slammed the axe into the door. He thanked everything there ever was that the door was a cheap, thin thing. He'd be through it within the next few seconds and then god help whatever had his brother held captive in there.

Sam was still being thrown around. After the table he'd been tossed into one of the upper cabinets. Then he'd been rudely introduced to the staircase banister, which he crashed right through. Finally, he'd been slammed and held against the wall. The fact that he was now stationary scared him more than when he'd been thrown around. Thrown around meant that this thing was getting its frustration out. Stationary meant that it was done playing.

"Sam!" Dean shouted as he pushed through the splintered remains of the door with Jess on his heels.

"Dean!" Sam yelled back, knowing his brother could find him by following his voice.

"Sam, oh my god!" Jess ran up to where he was still pinned to the wall.

There was a sudden sound of roaring flames as a flaming shape walked slowly around the corner. Dean and Jess both leveled their salt guns at it, but a split second before they pulled the triggers Sam stopped them.

"Dean, Jess, wait!" there was a note of pain in his voice. "Don't shoot."

"Why not?!" Dean demanded.

"Because I know who it is," Sam's eyes were wide and starting to fill with tears. "I can see her."

The figure finally stopped a few steps away from them and the flames grew even higher for a second. Slowly, they started to die down until the flaming figure was just a woman. Dean's eyes went just as wide as Sam's and he let his arm drop to his side. Jess was looking nervously at them, still holding her aim steady.

"Mom?" Dean asked, his voice cracking.

"Dean," she walked closer to him and smiled. That smile, so familiar even after twenty-two years. Dean wanted nothing more than to throw his arms around her and never let go right then. But he knew better than to try. His arms would only go right through her and he didn't know if he could take that total, absolute _proof_.

She continued a few more steps until she was standing right in front of Sam.

"My little Sammy," Mary looked up at him.

"Mom," Sam tried to pull away from the wall, but he was still pinned.

"I'm so sorry," Mary's smile dropped and she got a pained look in her eyes.

"For what?" a tear rolled down Sam's cheek.

She didn't answer, but turned her head to look at Jess. Her soft smile returned as she looked at the young blonde woman. Mary could sense the good in her and the bond the girl had with her boys, as well as the love between her and Sam. This girl was everything Mary ever could have wanted for her son. She turned back to look at Sam, trying to convey her love and pride. Sam nodded, more tears rolling down his face, but understanding that his mother was offering her approval and instant love of Jess.

"My boys," Mary looked from Sam to Dean. "I'm so proud of you two."

"Mom..." Dean's voice broke again and there were tears running down his face, too.

"I love you," she said, turning away from them. She looked up. " _You_ get out of my house," she ordered. "And let go of my son."

Flames burst to life around her again and in a burst of power she disappeared. Sam collapsed as the pressure against his chest finally let him go. Jess immediately dropped next to him, pulling him into a tight hug. After a moment she tugged on Dean's hand and pulled him down into the hug with him. She held both of her boys close while they collected themselves. Surprisingly it was Sam who was the first to pull away.

"Now it's over," he whispered, looking around.

The three of them walked shakily back outside. The screams, Dean breaking down the door, and the crashes from Sam being thrown violently around inside had caused the neighbors to call the police and there were three cop cars and an ambulance parked in front of the house. Two cops and a paramedic rushed forward as they stumbled out. The paramedic, seeing that Sam was obviously the most battered of the three, immediately started fussing around him.

"I'm okay, just some bumps and bruises," Sam brushed the man away.

"This cut might need some stitches," he poked at Sam's forehead and then dragged him by his elbow over to the ambulance so he could see better.

Sam endured the paramedic's hovering as best he could, but all he really wanted to do was find a bed and sleep for about a week. Jess came to sit next to him and comfort him as the second paramedic agreed that the cut on Sam's forehead needed stitches.

"Did you have a recent injury to the same area?" the second paramedic frowned as he looked closer. "It looks like this was stitched not too long ago."

"Yeah," Sam swore to himself. It figured that the damn poltergeist would split his head open in the exact same place that the witch had when she threw him into the mantle. He saw the paramedic's concerned look and sighed as he explained, "I'm accident prone. And tall. Didn't duck low enough and split my head open."

"And this time?" the first medic questioned.

"Fell down the stairs," he shrugged, not caring that it obviously sounded like a lie. He was too tired to make it sound convincing and it wasn't like CPS was going to get involved like they'd needed to worry about as kids.

Dean dealt with questions from the police while Sam was getting his head stitched up. Again. He'd already heard his brother tell the paramedic that he'd fallen down the stairs, and he'd overheard Jenny saying something about a break-in and calling some friends to help. From there it was pretty easy to fabricate his own story that matched close enough to Jenny and Sam's to get the cops away from him with minimal questioning.

When the paramedics were finally convinced that Sam didn't have a concussion and had his head stitched up, they were set loose. Jess hugged Jenny, Sari, and Richie tightly as she said her goodbyes. They may have only known each other for less than twenty-four hours, but both women would miss each other. After hugging Jess, Sari tugged shyly at Sam's sleeve and put her arms around his neck when he knelt down.

"Thank you, Sam," she whispered.

"You were great, sweetie," he hugged her back. "You take care of your mom and your brother for me, okay?"

"Okay," she smiled up at him.

Sam and Dean waved to Jenny as they piled back into the car. They'd agreed that they had one more stop to make before finding a motel. They pulled up in front of Missouri's house a few minutes later and dragged themselves back out of the car. She met them at the door, but rather than invite them to the back, they all stayed standing in the front room.

"We're only here for a minute," Dean told her.

"I heard," she said sadly. "Sam, I'm sorry. You knew that what was going on in that house wasn't over, and I didn't believe you. You're strong. Stronger than me."

"I don't know about that," Sam waved her comment off. "I think maybe I just had a stronger connection to that place."

A frown flitted across his face and he looked quickly around the room. It felt like they were being watched. He didn't see any sign that they actually were, so he figured he was probably just being jumpy after all of this.

"No matter," Missouri said, looking closely at him. "It's over now and you three look like hell. You need to go get some rest."

"For once I completely agree with you," Dean managed a laugh. "We didn't want to leave without saying goodbye first, though."

"If you even thought about doing that I would've known and then I would've felt the need to whack those thoughts out of you," Missouri pulled him down into a hug.

She hugged Jess, and finally Sam. She shooed them towards the door, ordering all of them to hole up in a motel room for a day or two until they were rested. Sam hesitated before stepping out of the psychic woman's house. The feeling of being watched was back even stronger. That wasn't even the weird part, though. The really weird part was that he didn't feel threatened by it. Considering their line of work and the fact that someone hiding in the shadows usually wasn't up to any good, he didn't understand why he wasn't storming through the house searching for whoever was there. He didn't feel the need to, though. There was no ill intent at all, if anything the presence felt comforting, and Sam let it go.

Missouri watched the three young hunters drive away and sighed. She stalked to her back room and stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the man sitting on the couch.

"That boy is strong," she scowled at him. "Very strong. He sensed you, just like I said he would."

"He couldn't have," John lifted his head out of his hands. "There's no way he would've left without talking to me if he had."

"John Winchester, I could slap you!" Missouri scolded. "He may not have known it was you, but he still knew someone was here. I made them promise to stay put for a day or two and rest up. There's no reason on Earth for you not to go talk to your children."

"I can't," John looked down at his hands. He twisted his wedding ring around his finger absently. "It's too dangerous for them to be around me right now. I came down here because Dean called, but I never had any intention of seeing them. Not yet."

"Your boys' lives are going to slip right by you," Missouri warned. "If it's a choice between revenge and them, you'd just better choose them."

John raised pained eyes to meet hers. He would do anything for his children, but he couldn't give up his hunt for the demon. Not when he was so close to finding it. The boys would just have to understand. He'd bring them in when the time was right, but not before. He couldn't risk them getting hurt, and seeing as they were dragging that poor girl around with them, he wasn't about to put any of them in danger. They had to understand, John repeated to himself, praying that he was right. They were smart kids and in the end, they'd understand.

* * *

 _ **Additional Note:** I can't apologize enough for how long it took to post this chapter. I've been looking forward to writing this one and giving Mary a chance to approve of Jess for Sam (which I know we saw in Dean's djinn-induced dream world, but I wanted it to happen in the actual universe), but it wound up being harder to write than I expected. I hope I managed to do this one justice, as I know "Home" is a very important episode. Since the last two chapters have been pretty serious ones, I think I'm going to make the next chapter a funny one. That should make it easier for me to write, which means the next update should be a lot sooner. I have an idea in the works for Chapter 7 that would **never** actually happen in the show, but Jess makes the atmosphere so much different that it might be believable. At least that's what I tell myself since I'm basically planning to play Chuck again and change things to suit what I'd like to see. Hope everyone liked this chapter. I'd love to hear what you think of it, whether I did good or bad or just plain shouldn't have used such an emotional episode. Thanks to everyone for the continued support! Love you all!  
_


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Hello again everyone. I want to thank every single one of you from the bottom of my heart for the overwhelming amount of support you've sent my way during this hard time. The SPN Family is so wonderful and I'm honored to be a part of it. So thank you all so so so very much. I know that at the end of the last chapter, I said I wanted to do something funny that would never actually happen, and I did make this chapter somewhat funny (I think), but my other plan wound up falling through the cracks. The boys and Jess just didn't want it to happen yet. It still will, maybe next chapter, but I'll have to consult them on it since they like to change things on me. :)

 **Additional Note:** I added a cover image for this story, so if you have a chance, click on it and take a look. It's an absolutely _amazing_ piece of fan art that I found. I'm not sure who drew it, but it's an absolutely gorgeous piece of work and I feel like it fits the story so perfectly. Whoever drew it is amazingly talented.

* * *

Dean smirked as he slowly started to wake up. He had to give Sam and Jess credit. They were trying _really_ hard to keep him from noticing the make out session they had going on in the other bed. If he wasn't a trained hunter there was a good chance he would've stayed asleep and oblivious. He internally debated himself on whether or not he should let them know he was awake. The look on their faces would be hilarious, but at the same time Sam and Jess didn't get many chances to do normal couple things. He had just about decided to keep faking sleep and let them stay oblivious when he heard a soft moan that told him things were starting to get past the make out stage.

"Whoa! Uh-uh!" Dean shot up out of bed. He took a second to savor the mortified looks on both of their faces and then pinned Sam with a mock glare. "Seriously, dude? You could at least have the decency to wait until I go for breakfast."

"We, um, kind of thought you were still asleep," Jess answered.

It took everything Dean had not to burst out laughing at their identically bright red faces. Growing up, this situation had almost always been reversed. He'd be the one trying to sneak around with a girl and Sam would be scolding him. Generally he'd tried to convince them to bring him back to their place, but every once in a while he'd bring one back to whatever motel they were staying at. One thing that hadn't changed in all these years was the look on Sam's face. The horrified, kill-me-now look was still exactly the same.

"I was until you two decided to go at it," he wasn't about to let this opportunity to tease them mercilessly slip by.

"Dean!" Sam didn't think it was possible for his face to get any redder without actually bursting into flames. "We were not 'going at it'!"

"Could've fooled me," Dean teased, pulling his boots on. "Tell you what, I'll take a nice slow ride to the coffee shop up the road so you two crazy kids can have some fun."

"I swear to god, Dean I'm going to kill you," Sam growled.

"Sure you are," Dean laughed and pulled the keys to the Impala out of his pocket. He sauntered over to the door and just before walking out he turned and said, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

He had to duck and slam the door closed as Jess's hairbrush and a motel notepad came flying across the room at his head. Merciless teasing or not, he was actually happy for them. Since getting engaged, they seemed closer, happier. Neither of them had talked about when they were actually planning to get married, at least not in front of him, but that didn't seem to matter right now.

"My brother is a jackass," Sam groaned.

"But he's our jackass," Jess agreed, getting out of bed. The mood was officially killed.

"I don't know about that," Sam muttered. "Is it still illegal to kill your brother in most States?"

"It was last time I checked," Jess laughed. "You were pre-law, though, not me."

"I guarantee I could find _something_ justifying homicide in a case like this," Sam joked.

"Speaking of cases, do we have anything new yet?" Jess asked. "I know we promised Missouri that we'd take it easy for a bit, but I'm starting to get a little bit of cabin fever. How about you?"

"A little," he didn't really want to, but Sam had to admit that he was definitely starting to feel restless. "And I know that Dean's practically crawling out of his own skin to get moving again. No leads on a case, though. I was thinking that if it's good with you and Dean we could head up to Bobby's. He's usually got leads on half a dozen cases at any given time."

"It's been too long since we've seen him anyway," Jess's eyes lit up. "I miss the grumpy old man."

"Don't let him hear you call him that," Sam draped an arm over Jess's shoulders and leaned down to kiss her deeply. "Y'know, Dean might've killed the mood, but he _did_ say that he was going to be gone for awhile."

"And if there's one thing I've learned as a hunter, it's that dead things tend not to stay dead," Jess agreed.

"Which means that we can..." Sam started to move back towards the bed.

"Cease fire!" Dean shouted from right outside the door. Without waiting for an answer, he stumbled in, hand dramatically over his eyes. "I forgot my phone. Try to keep it PG rated until I get back out of here, please."

"Dude, you're a freakin' idiot," Sam groaned. That was the second time this morning that Dean had killed the mood between him and Jess. At this point, he was at least seventy-five percent convinced that he'd be able to get a jury to see his reasoning. Justifiable homicide.

Peeking between his fingers, Dean grinned when he saw his brother and Jess standing. He dropped his hand and his grin grew even more when he saw the look on Sam's face. He knew his little brother, and knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Well, as long as you're both up now, why don't we get packed and back on the road," Dean stopped and replayed his words in his head.

"Seriously, Dean?" Sam realized what Dean was thinking. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Can't. It's perfectly happy to continue living there," Dean laughed. "Anyway. I'm going stark, raving nuts in this motel room. Let's get back on the road."

"We were just talking about that," Jess was already gathering the few things they'd bothered to unpack. "We thought maybe we should head up to see Bobby. There haven't been any leads on a new job, so it seems like as good a plan as any."

"We can do that," Dean agreed. "Let's get moving. We'll stop for breakfast and coffee on the way."

Leading the two younger hunters out to the Impala, Dean smirked to himself. The couple of days they'd been sitting around had him bored out of his mind, and a bored Dean could be a dangerous thing. When they stopped a few miles away to get coffee, he generously offered to go in and get for all three of them.

Ordering four coffees, he added cream and sugar to two of them. He would never understand how Sam and Jess could drink their coffee with all this crap in there, but hey it wasn't like he had to drink it. He laughed to himself as he stared to fix the fourth coffee. Instead of sugar, he dumped a generous helping of salt into it. Then he added a bit of skim milk, which he knew Sam hated. Hiding the cream and sugar coffee, he walked back to the car and handed Sam the disgusting salt and skim milk one. For a second he debated whether or not that'd been a good idea. If Sam spit coffee all over his car he was gonna be pissed. He watched Sam furtively from the corner of his eye as his brother took a big gulp from the cup.

Sam had never tasted anything this nasty in his entire life. He gagged and it took everything he had not to puke at the disgusting taste. For a moment his brain was so overwhelmed by the revolting coffee that he couldn't focus on anything else. Once his head started to clear, he heard Dean laughing hysterically, bent almost double in the driver's seat.

"What the hell did you do?!" Sam choked.

"Aw, c'mon Sammy," Dean said between peals of laughter. "You don't like a little salt in your coffee?"

"Salt?!" Sam yelled. "Wait. Uh-uh. No way. We are _not_ starting this crap again."

"What crap?" Dean asked innocently.

"This stupid, childish, prank war crap," Sam clarified. "It ridiculous and it always escalates! We're not doing this."

"Chicken," Dean accused, handing Sam his real coffee.

"Okay, fine," Sam looked nervously at the new cup in his hand. "Just remember that you're the one who started this and now it's two against one."

"Who says it's two against one?" Jess teased.

"I want it on the record that I'm against this," Sam grumbled. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

"You three idjits allergic to making a phone call?" a voice cracked across the salvage yard as the three hunters climbed sheepishly out of the car.

"Hi, Bobby," they all said guiltily.

Bobby stalked grumpily towards the Impala, but stopped when he saw the looks on their faces. They were all shuffling their feet, like they'd been up to something.

"What'd you do?" he pinned Dean with a glare.

"Why does it have to be me?" Dean asked.

"Because I've known you since you were six and it's always been you," Bobby replied.

They hadn't been able to do much to each other on the drive up to Bobby's, but all three of them had been thinking very hard about what they'd do when they got there. Sam already knew exactly what prank he wanted to pull on Dean first, Jess had a plan to prank both Sam and Dean, and Dean had decided that Jess would be his next victim.

"It's nothing, Bobby," Sam jumped to his brother's defense. "We're having a bit of a slow week and you know how we get when we're bored."

"Do I," Bobby sighed. "Jess, you must be a damned saint, putting up with these two."

"Sometimes I wonder," Jess laughed.

"Well, since you're here I could use the help," Bobby said. "Sam, Jess, why don't you two get the bags inside? Dean, I got a car over here with an electrical gremlin in it. Why don't you join me and help me suss out what it is."

Sam agreeably picked up both his bag and Dean's, while Jess took hers. He dropped Dean's bag on the couch and started to follow Jess up the stairs when he suddenly stopped.

"Oh, man," he complained. "We never stopped for beer. You mind staying here while I make a run, babe?"

"Not at all," Jess answered. This worked out perfectly for her. With Bobby keeping Dean busy and Sam running to the store, she'd be able to set up her prank for the boys.

"Awesome," Sam grinned.

He trotted back out to the car, shouting over to Dean and Bobby, and drove to the nearest convenience store. He did pick up a case of beer, but also snagged three small packages of glitter. Dean was most likely going to kill him over this prank, but it wasn't like he hadn't been warned. Grinning widely, Sam drove back to Bobby's house and made sure to park far enough away from the garage that his brother wouldn't be able to see what he was doing.

Working quickly, he shut the car off, dumped all three packets of glitter into the vents, and turned the knobs on the dash up as far as they'd go. He'd have to make sure he was well clear of Dean when this prank went off, but still somewhere where he could enjoy the show. Chuckling to himself, he detoured into the garage to offer Dean and Bobby beers. Purely out of the goodness of his heart, of course. Seeing the look on Dean's face as he tried to figure out what Sam might have done to his beer was, of course, just a bonus.

Meanwhile, Jess had been up to some shenanigans of her own. As soon as she'd heard the Impala rumble away, she'd raced towards the bathroom. Growing up with three older brothers had taught her a thing or two about pranks. On their way up to South Dakota they'd stopped to pick up something for lunch and some snacks for the road. When they had done that, she'd insisted on Life Savers for just this reason.

She unscrewed the shower head and slipped a few Life Savers in before replacing it. The joy of this prank was that it wouldn't smell enough like candy to be noticeable, and the water would still come out clear, but the boys would get out of the shower feeling sticky. With any luck, they'd continue to try and shower the sticky feeling away until the candy finally dissolved the rest of the way.

"Jess?" Sam called up the stairs. "I'm back! You want a beer?"

"Sure, be right down!" Jess yelled.

"So, I have the best prank set up for Dean," Sam grinned and handed her a beer as she trotted down the stairs. "Come here. You gotta keep an eye on the Impala with me. This is gonna be hilarious!"

"What did you do?" Jess laughed at the obvious joy on her fiancee's face.

"Just watch," Sam pulled her out onto the back porch to sit and wait. He settled in one of the old chairs and Jess curled up in his lap.

They wound up not having to wait very long. Less than fifteen minutes later, Dean and Bobby both came out of the garage wiping their hands on rags. Dean scowled when he saw where the Impala was parked.

"Seriously, Sammy?" he shouted, seeing them on the porch. "You know the Impala doesn't belong way down here!"

"Watch," Sam could barely contain himself as he watched Dean get into the car.

"Is this something he's going to kill you for?" Jess asked nervously.

"Yep," Sam answered happily. "Hey, he started it. He knew what he was in for."

The Impala rumbled to life...

"Dammit! SAM!"

Dean flew out of his car, spluttering and covered in glitter. Both Sam and Jess were doubled over, laughing. Sam because he'd been looking forward to seeing Dean's reaction, and Jess because Sam had unknowingly set Dean up to walk right into her prank. Bobby just leaned against one of the stacks of cars and smirked.

"You are so dead!" Dean threatened, stalking towards the porch. "You mess with me that's one thing but you never, _never_ mess with my baby!"

"Payback's a bitch," Sam shot to his feet, still laughing at his brother.

"This is not payback!" Dean raced up the porch steps, and Jess put her arms out to keep the brothers separated. "My baby is off limits for pranks!"

"We didn't talk about rules," Sam taunted. "And this is payback. For this morning. You got me twice. This is only fair."

"I'm still gonna kill you!" Dean threatened. "Move, Jess!"

"Enough," Bobby ordered. "Dean, get your hide into the shower. Sam, go clean up your brother's car."

"Bobby..." Sam started to protest.

"Didn't ask for an argument," Bobby glared at him. "Go. Goes for you too, Dean."

"Fine," both brothers muttered, each stomping off to their assigned tasks.

Jess was starting to question whether or not she should stop Dean from walking right into her prank, but decided against it at the last second. Technically, she hadn't gotten Dean back for teasing them this morning. She was secretly happy that Bobby had sent Sam to take care of the car, though. It would put a nice buffer between Dean falling into her trap and Sam doing the same. She knew she wouldn't have to worry about Dean saying anything. He'd be all for getting Sam back.

A few minutes later, she heard the shower turn off. A few seconds after that, the sound of cursing came from the bathroom and the shower turned back on. Bobby glanced up at the ceiling and frowned. Then his eyes narrowed and he looked over to Jess.

"Alright, what'd you do?" he asked.

"Why do you think it was me?" Jess giggled, repeating Dean's words from earlier.

"Because you look like that cat that stole the cream," Bobby cracked a smile.

"Fine, but you can't tell Sam," Jess made him promise. "Life Savers in the shower head. The water doesn't change colors, but it leaves whoever's in the shower feeling sticky. Once Dean's done, I'm gonna go up and put more in there and wait for Sam."

"You're just as evil as they are," Bobby chuckled. "You're gonna want to watch your back, girl. Those boys can get pretty evil when it comes to their prank wars."

"Yeah, I think I remember Sam mentioning something about Nair in his shampoo at one point," Jess nodded.

Another few minutes, another round of cursing from upstairs. This time the bathroom door opened.

"Hey, Bobby!" Dean yelled. "I think there's something wrong with your water filter or something."

"Or something," Jess called back.

"What do you..." Dean started. "Wait. Damn him, I'm gonna kill that kid!"

"That would be sort of pointless since Sam's not the one who did it," Jess bragged.

"Seriously?" Dean almost sounded impressed. Then he hardened his voice. "Okay, you got me. Now tell me what you did so I can get whatever this crap is off of me!"

"Unscrew the shower head, you'll figure it out," Jess laughed. "And hurry up. I want to get that reset before Sam comes in to take his shower."

"Hell yeah, I'm all for that," Dean agreed. He slammed the door and the shower started up for the third time. This time when it stopped, Dean came out of the bathroom laughing even more.

"Good one, huh?" Jess asked, passing him on the stairs.

"I'll give it to ya," Dean said. "Mostly just because I want to see you get Sam with it, too. Who taught you that?"

"Grew up with three older brothers," Jess reminded him. "What? You think you and Sam cornered the market on prank wars?"

"I did until about three seconds ago," Dean muttered. "Hurry up before Sam comes back in."

"Bossy," Jess swatted at him, but he ducked too quickly. "Make sure that you keep him busy if he comes back in before I'm done!"

"Now who's being bossy?" Dean asked.

Jess quickly replaced the candies in the shower head and rushed downstairs as she heard the door open. Sam appeared, almost as covered in glitter as Dean had been. He glared at both Dean and Bobby.

"Don't give me that look, boy," Bobby warned.

"Don't give me that look, either," Dean added. "I have no sympathy."

"Wait till next time," Sam threatened. "This is gonna seem like nothing. Now, does anyone care if I go get a shower? There's glitter in places I didn't even know that I owned."

"Go for it," Dean said, almost a little too eagerly.

"Want to join me?" Sam grabbed Jess's waist just as she was trying to slip past him.

"It's okay, I already got one," Jess lied. "You go, honey."

Sam gave her his best puppy dog look, but she just laughed and shooed him away.

"How many times have those eyes actually worked on me in the past three years?" she teased. "Go. I'm not gonna disappear in the ten minutes it'll take you to get showered."

"Spoil sport," Sam complained, digging his fingers into her ribs, right where she was the most ticklish.

He took his customary, boiling hot shower and started to towel off. He quickly realized something was wrong, though. The glitter was gone, but he was still sticky. That didn't make any sense. Figuring that Dean must have done something to his towel, he exchanged it out for a new one and got back in the shower. Getting out for the second time didn't go any better than the first.

"Dammit, Dean," he muttered. "The hell did you do to all the towels?"

This time he snagged a towel out of Bobby's linen closet, but getting out of the shower for the third time didn't have any better effect than the first two, except that now the water was getting cold. And wait...was that laughing? Now that he was listening for it, it wasn't hard to hear the peals of laughter coming from downstairs.

"Just wait till you see what I come up with next, Dean!" he shouted down the stairs. "Get up here and fix whatever this is!"

"D-don't blame me!" Dean was gasping for breath, he was laughing so hard. "Not my f-fault that your girlfriend outsmarted you!"

"Excuse me, girlfriend?!" the sound of Jess slapping Dean's arm came from downstairs.

"You're all idjits," Bobby shook his head affectionately.

* * *

The next day, the prank war was still in full swing. They'd all gotten each other with the usual things. Rubber band around the faucet sprayer. Water bucket above the door. Air horn attached to the bottom of the desk chair. There hadn't been any more really evil pranks yet, though. Sam and Jess fully intended to change that. They'd stayed up last night plotting a trick to play on Dean together.

They woke up earlier than usual the next morning and crept down the stairs. With Dean sleeping right on the couch it would probably be hard for them to get out of the house without waking him up, but they had plans to just say they had woken up early and were going to get something to eat together.

"We are so going to have to watch our backs after today," Jess warned.

"Yes, we are," Sam agreed. "It's totally gonna be worth it, though."

As expected, Dean woke up as they tried to sneak out of the house, but simply mumbled something about it being too early and buried his face back in his pillow when Sam and Jess gave their excuse. Bobby was already up and working in his garage when the couple made their way outside.

"You two are up early," he commented.

"Yeah," they both answered, neither offering an answer to the unasked question.

"Why?" Bobby sighed and asked anyway.

"We might've decided to team up against Dean today," Sam shrugged.

"Might've?" Bobby raised an eyebrow. "Just, do me a favor? Try not to destroy my house. You three are drivin' me nuts with this prank stuff."

"After today, I don't know that Dean's going to want to continue with this prank war anyway," Jess laughed.

"Anythin' I need to watch for?" Bobby asked nervously.

"Umm, everything?" Sam suggested. "Just assume that anything we're trying to get Dean to do isn't safe. I wouldn't really suggest eating or drinking anything today, either."

"Suddenly I feel like I'm gonna need to be out in the garage all day," Bobby waved them away. "Remember what I said. Don't destroy my house."

Sam and Jess set off to start setting up the first of their pranks. Driving back to the convenience store where Sam had gotten the glitter for his last prank, he and Jess gathered the supplies they'd need for today. Even the bored looking clerk couldn't help but smile a little at the snickers that kept bursting out across the store.

"Do you mind if we use your counter over there?" Sam asked, after they'd paid for everything.

"Go ahead, dude," the clerk shrugged. "You're the only ones crazy enough to be out this early anyway."

They both grinned and started setting up the easier pranks. First they took the box of cream-filled donuts that Dean loved and replaced the cream in half of them with mayonnaise. Then they scraped the whipped cream off of the pie they'd gotten and sprayed shaving cream all over it. They also replaced the soda they'd gotten Dean with a soy sauce mixture, replaced Oreo cream with toothpaste, and filled the empty toothpaste tube with orajel. The clerk was openly watching them, the amused look on his face growing with every replacement.

"Man, remind me not to get on your bad side," he laughed as they gathered their things together and left.

Getting back to Bobby's, they put the next parts of their plan into place. Despite Dean's warning from yesterday, Sam messed around with some of the Impala's wiring, making sure that the button for the stereo would now work the windshield wipers, the windshield wiper knob would work the blinkers, and the blinkers would work the stereo.

While Sam tampered with the car, Jess snuck back inside and sprinkled itching powder into the clothes Dean had laid out for this morning. She set the mayo-filled donuts out onto the table, placed the other pranks around the house, and waited for Sam to finish what he was doing and come back in the house. In reality, they hadn't really planned anything overly evil, but every time Dean turned around he was going to be running into their pranks today. They were probably going to have to change their names and go into witness protection, but it would be worth it to see the frustration on his face.

"Ready?" Sam asked, walking in with a blown up balloon. This was the only part of their plan that was probably really stupid, but they couldn't resist.

Pushing Dean's gun outside of arm's reach, Sam crouched near his brother. He had to stifle a laugh as Jess handed him a pin. It was one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it was likely to scare the hell out of Dean and that's what they were going for. Without any more hesitation, he popped the balloon right next to Dean's ear.

"What the hell?!" Dean shot up off the couch, scrambling for his gun before he was even fully awake. Blinking to clear his eyes, he realized that his gun was decidedly not where he'd left it and that Sam and Jess were practically rolling on the floor with laughter. "Are you two trying to get shot?"

"Come on, we're not that stupid," Sam motioned to where he'd moved Dean's pistol. "Time to get up, dude."

"I hate you," Dean grumbled. "Did you at least bring something back for breakfast?"

"Donuts," Sam motioned to the table. "Jess and I ate already, so dig in."

They tried not to watch Dean too carefully as he pulled his new clothes on and stumbled over to where the donuts were laid out. Bobby walked in to refill his coffee and reached for a doughnut of his own.

"Hey, Bobby," Jess cleared her throat. "Do you mind helping me practice my Latin a bit? I still don't have that exorcism memorized quite yet and it's driving me crazy."

"No problem," Bobby frowned in confusion. "Let me just..."

"Awesome," Jess ripped the doughnut out of his hand and gave it to Dean. "I can get about halfway through it before I start to have trouble."

She pulled Bobby out of the room just far enough that Dean couldn't see or hear them and pointed back in.

"You don't want one of those," she warned. "Watch."

"I swear, Jess has got that man wrapped around her little finger," Dean poured himself a cup of coffee and took a huge bite of the doughnut Jess had handed him.

Apparently his brain wasn't running on all cylinders quite yet this morning because he never even paused to think about the prank war they currently had in place. It was a mistake that didn't last long. He chewed twice before realizing that something was _very_ wrong. Spitting the nasty doughnut out into the garbage he glared as Sam nearly fell over laughing. He could hear Jess laughing from the hall, too.

"Is that the best you got?" he asked. "That's weak, dude. Weak."

"Give it time," Sam grinned.

"Watch it or you'll wind up bald again," Dean growled. "Is there any real breakfast?"

"Here," Sam offered the box with the un-tampered with donuts.

This time Dean had the sense to test them before taking a bite. He scratched absently at his chest while he tried to figure out a way to get Sam and Jess back for this one. As far as pranks went, mayonnaise in the donuts was nasty, but not the worst thing that had ever come out of a prank war. Squirming a little, he stuffed the rest of the doughnut into his mouth and scratched at his arms. Jess had insisted on some new laundry detergent when they went shopping last time and apparently it wasn't agreeing with him. Damn but it felt like his skin was trying to crawl off of his body.

"So Bobby," Dean snagged another doughnut. "You got any leads on a case for us? Sasquatch over here is losing his touch. Can't find us anything."

"Screw you, Dean," Sam shot back, noticing how much his brother was starting to squirm. He winked at Jess and she smirked back.

"I'm sure I got somethin'," Bobby said. "You alright there, boy?"

"New detergent," Dean brushed it off.

"Sure about that?" Sam asked.

"What?!" Dean shot Sam a deadly look and then decided that wasn't quite enough. He lunged for his brother and just missed tackling him.

"Don't be pissed at me because you're off your game today," Sam teased, dodging another attack.

"I'll show you 'off my game'," Dean finally caught his brother around the waist and pinned him to the ground. Bobby and Jess watched them try to choke the life out of each other for a few seconds before stepping in.

"Git off your brother now," Bobby reached down to haul Dean back up by his arm. "I swear, you three are gonna kill me with this prank stuff."

"This is just the start of a long day for you," Sam warned.

"Enough!" Bobby snapped. "Sam, take a walk already before your brother actually tries to kill ya. Dean, take some time to cool off. Get ready for the day. Go for a drive. I don't care."

Sam slunk sheepishly out the door. He was sort of starting to feel bad about the number of pranks they had set up for Dean today. Not bad enough to let him off the hook, though.

"You think maybe we went a little overboard today?" Jess asked, coming up behind him.

"Maybe," Sam admitted. "Let's take that walk and when we get back maybe we should get rid of one or two of them."

"I was thinking the same thing," Jess agreed. "I do sort of wish we were sticking around to see the toothpaste thing, though."

"Crap! I almost forgot about that!" Sam burst out laughing. "Come on. We need to get moving before..."

"SAM!" the yell came from both Dean and Bobby. Dean's shout sounding slurred from his no-doubt numb mouth.

"Go, go, go," Sam urged, racing down the porch steps.

They both ran towards the sparring practice field. Sam judged that at this point they were probably far enough away from the house to be semi-safe. As gently as he could, he caught Jess around the waist and swung her around. At least that's what he meant to do. Instead, he managed to get his arms around her waist and then promptly tangled their feet together, sending them both crashing to the grass.

"You're such a klutz, love," Jess laughed, resting her chin on his chest.

"You love it," Sam joked. "How boring would our lives be if I wasn't?"

"Pretty boring," Jess agreed. "You're cute, too, which is a plus."

Sam burst out laughing at that. He wrapped one arm around Jess's waist and put the opposite hand on the back of her head, running his fingers through her long blonde hair. Jess snuggled in closer to his chest and closed her eyes contentedly.

"This is nice," she said.

"I feel bad that we haven't really been able to spend time together like this much," Sam admitted guiltily. "Between being on the road and all three of us living right on top of each other and hunting evil and about a hundred other things, I feel like I'm neglecting you."

"Hey," Jess started rubbing his chest in soothing circles. "You're not 'neglecting' me. You're right. You and Dean and I really do live practically right on top of each other. We're always either in the car together or in a motel room together. We get some alone time when we're here at Bobby's, though. And it's not like I don't get how important our job is. We have the rest of our lives to be together, baby. Don't beat yourself up over something that's not your fault."

"God, what would I do without you?" Sam squeezed Jess tighter to him and placed a kiss on the top of her head, starting the first half of their playful way of saying 'I love you'.

"Crash and burn," Jess replied, finishing it.

It was similar to the way he and Dean called each other 'bitch' and 'jerk'. The words might have been a little harsh or sarcastic, but the meaning buried beneath the words was what mattered.

"Love you," Sam whispered into her hair. He didn't care that he was basically repeating what they'd just said. He'd never get tired of telling Jess how much he loved her.

"Hmmm," Jess hummed, eyes drifting back closed.

They hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night and they were both feeling it now. She knew that the middle of a field was probably not the place to take a nap, but snuggled up to her fiancee with her head pillowed on his chest was just too damn comfortable. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open by the second. A quick glance up showed her that Sam apparently felt the same way. His big hazel eyes had a glassy, far away look, too.

Within minutes they were both passed out. Bobby came looking for them about an hour later. In the past hour, Dean had fallen into one more of Sam and Jess's traps and discovered a second. Trying to console himself with pie, he'd had enough sense to check the whipped cream and caught the switch. The 'soda' hadn't even given him pause, though. Until he'd taken a gulp of it and spit it halfway across the kitchen, that was. Dean didn't look like he was getting anything more than merely irritated at the myriad of pranks today, but it was starting to wear on Bobby's nerves. It didn't seem like his adopted kids were planning on stopping this little battle of theirs anytime soon, so he was going to stop it for them. Once they were back on the road they could torture each other all they wanted.

He smiled slightly when he saw Sam and Jess sprawled out in the middle of the field, dead to the world, and didn't have the heart to disturb them. If Rufus were here he'd be yapping about how Bobby was going soft in his old age right now. Still, he'd like to see Rufus try to resist Jess's charm. That girl was damn good for the boys and she finally gave them something to fight for other than pure, one-track revenge. Sure, they were still technically on a revenge mission for what the demon had tried to do to Jess, but it was more than that. For practically the first time since he'd met Sam at two years old, the boy looked content with his life. Not like he was trying to run from it.

"Aww, aren't they sweet?" Dean mocked, coming up next to Bobby. "Would be a shame for..."

"No," Bobby cut him off, putting a stern look on his face. "You leave your brother and Jess alone for now. I'm gonna need to drink a whole damn _case_ of whiskey to relax after this little visit from you three."

"You're no fun, Bobby," Dean prodded, but let it alone. He had one more trick up his sleeve, but he was perceptive enough to know that Bobby'd had enough of their crap. Good thing this trick was going to happen outside rather than back in the house.

"Let them be," Bobby ordered. "If they're still out here in an hour or so I'll wake `em up."

"Okay," Dean agreed. "I'm gonna go grab some of the guns from the trunk. They could use cleaning."

Bobby nodded in agreement and headed towards his garage. Smirking, Dean did go to the Impala and he did pull some of the guns out with every intention of cleaning them. However, he also took out a package he'd picked up at some point to use for precisely this reason. It'd been sitting in the trunk for god knew how long and he'd been starting to wonder if he'd ever get a chance to use it, but now it was worth the wait. He quietly set up his prank next to his brother and sat a little ways away to watch the fireworks.

Thankfully, he didn't need to wait long. Not more than ten minutes after he'd put his little trick in place, Sam started to stir. The kid may have been tired, but his hunter instincts weren't going to let him just pass out in the middle of a field for any extended period of time. Dean set the gun he'd been wiping down aside and crept closer.

Sam's reaction was even better than anything he could've hoped for. He stretched and opened his eyes, immediately scanning his surroundings to be sure he and Jess were still safe. Which meant it only took him a second to notice the huge clown right next to him. He yelped, lashing out at it, and damn near levitated when it bounced back at him. It was one of those inflatable, round bottom punching bags that couldn't be knocked over. Hitting it rocked it backwards, but then it shot forward again. Jess snapped awake, clawing for her weapon until she realized what was going on.

Dean was laughing too hard to even be trying to hide. For a second he still thought that one or both of them were going to shoot the damn clown, but instead Sam looked over at him disgustedly, pushing Jess's hand away from her gun.

"Funny, Dean," he snapped.

"I thought so!" Dean laughed. His phone started to ring and he dug in his pocket for it, chuckling at his brother's continued reaction to the clown that was still there. "Hello...Dad?"

That sobered him up like nothing else could've at that moment. Sam's eyes immediately went wide and in a flash he was standing next to Dean, asking questions at a rapid-fire pace.

"Where is he? Is he okay? What's going on? What..."

"Hush, Sammy," Dean pushed him away and put the phone on speaker. "Dad, we've been looking all the hell over the place for you!"

"I know," John answered. "That's part of the reason I called. You have to leave off looking for me. How much did Bobby tell you about what I'm hunting?"

"Enough that we know you're after the demon that killed Mom and attacked Jess," Sam put in. "Not enough to know much about it, though."

"Good," John knew his boys couldn't see him, but he nodded anyway. "I'm starting to get close, but I don't want you boys...you three anywhere near it."

"That's bullshit, Dad!" Sam yelled. "We're in this just as much as you are!"

"You're staying away from this, and that's final, Samuel," John growled. "I have something I need you kids to look into for me."

"Are you sure you trust us enough for that?" Sam muttered.

"Shut up, Sam," Dean ordered. "What is it, Dad?"

"Take down these coordinates," John said, ignoring Sam's second outburst. "It's a town in Illinois. There have been some weird deaths in that area. People being torn apart in locked apartments."

"Are you serious right now?!" Sam exploded. Jess put a hand on his arm to calm him down, which worked about as well as she expected. Which was to say not at all.

"I'm giving you an order," John's temper was quickly running out. "You have a job to do, so stop wasting time arguing with me and do it! Get on the road within the hour, Dean. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," Dean answered obediently, and hung up. He fixed Sam with a withering glare. "Seriously, dude?"

"Dad's closing in on the damn demon and he's treating us like kids who can't handle it," Sam seethed. "I don't care what he said. I'm gonna track the GPS on his phone and get to wherever he is to help him. "

"Baby," Jess stepped between the two brothers. By the look on their faces, things were about to get ugly. "Think about this. He didn't say that he knew exactly where it was. He said he was getting close. It doesn't sound like there's much we could do to help him at this point. We _can_ help the people in this town he's sending us to, though. Stop it before anyone else gets hurt."

For a second Sam stayed tense. He wanted to continue to dig his heels in and insist they find Dad, but Jess had a really good point. "Getting close" didn't mean "I have it in sight". He'd been a hunter long enough to know that. Huffing in frustration, he stalked back towards the house.

"Where are you going?" Dean demanded.

"To pack. I guess we're going to Illinois," Sam snapped.

He sulkily packed up both his and Jess's things and said goodbye to Bobby. Okay, he was being a bit childish, but somehow his Dad just had that effect on him. Every. Single. Time. He dropped into the front seat of the Impala and Dean and Jess joined him a minute later. He was so irritated that he'd almost managed to forget about his little wiring job on the car. Until about a split second before Dean turned the key.

"SAM!"

* * *

 _ **Additional Note:** I know I said it already, but I want to say it again: thank you all **so** much for the support during this stressful time. I'm sorry about how long it took to update. Between emotional crap, ridiculous amounts of schoolwork, two toddlers, three horses, two dogs, and a truck driver husband who's gone 4 - 5 days a week, I have started working on Chapter 8. Gonna really try to get these chapters out in a more timely manner, but I apologize if the updates don't start getting closer together. Again, thank you all so much. Love y'all!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** As always, the very first thing I want to say is how grateful I am for all of the reviews/favorites/follows on this story! I will never stop thanking all of you for your amazing support. Maybe I'm being sappy, but I honestly feel that I've made some true friends throughout this journey so far. So, this chapter is based pretty heavily on Season 1, Episode 16 "Shadow", but I've made a _lot_ of changes to it. Obviously I skipped right over "Scarecrow" so Sam never met Meg, but I'm actually a pretty big fan of Meg (not so much Season 1 Meg, but she definitely grew on me later on in the series) plus she does wind up becoming an important character in Supernatural so I meddled with things and brought her in. You'll obviously notice the changes I've made, but I wanted to bring up the fact that they're intentional and made in order to move the story along a little. I hope y'all enjoy this latest chapter!

* * *

"I can't believe you messed with my car. _Again_ ," Dean muttered for what had to be the millionth time.

"Oh my god, dude," Sam rolled his eyes. "It took you literally three seconds to fix it! Get over it!"

"My _car_ , Sam," Dean growled. "You messed with my _car_."

"I got that the first seventeen hundred times," Sam sighed.

"I don't know that I did, though," Jess teased. "Maybe you should say it again? Just to be sure?"

"You mind your business," Dean scolded, but they could all tell there was no heat behind it and they all wound up giving in and laughing.

"Let's go over everything one more time," Jess suggested after a minute.

"There's been two murders in the last two weeks. A middle-aged guy and a twenty-something girl," Dean didn't mind repeating this again. They were all of the opinion that there was no such thing as being too prepared going into a hunt. "At both crime scenes the doors and windows were locked and the alarms were on. Plus the victims were torn apart. Normally I might think werewolf, but..."

"But werewolves or anything else corporeal would've broken the door or window, and definitely would've triggered the alarm," Sam finished.

"So, what are we thinking?" Jess asked. "Demon? Ghost?"

"Could be either," Dean agreed. "I was thinking, since there's three of us, we could split up a little. You two can go check out the dead girl's apartment, I'll ask some questions over at the place she worked."

"What place would that be?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"A place," Dean replied.

"Strip club or bar?" Sam and Jess both asked at the same time.

"Why does it have to be...okay, bar," Dean admitted with a lopsided grin. "C'mon, we can cover more ground if we split up. Makes sense."

"Right, that's exactly why you suggested it," Sam teased. "It has nothing to do with going to a bar and trying to hook up with some hot girl."

"You know me, Sammy. Always a professional!" Dean slapped his brother on the shoulder.

"It's Sam," he corrected. "I'm too eager to get rid of you to argue about it. God knows if I have to hear you complain about this damn car one more time I'm gonna smother you in your sleep. Then I can sell the car on eBay and get something newer, better on gas."

"I swear to god I will haunt you until the day I die," Dean warned. "I don't care what I have to hang onto, I will find a way to haunt your ass and make your life a living hell."

"Stop teasing your brother," Jess cuffed Sam on the back of the head. "You know you love this car almost as much as he does."

"Ruining all my arguments, babe!" Sam complained, rubbing the back of his head dramatically.

A few miles later Dean pulled the Impala up in front of an apartment building. Sam and Jess piled out, got an EMF meter out of the trunk, and checked their pistols one last time before tucking them into their waistbands and waving Dean away. They walked up to the building and pushed the buzzer for the landlord's apartment.

"Can I help you?" a woman's voice crackled through the speaker.

"Um, yes ma'am," Sam answered politely. "My name is Sam. This is my associate, Jess. We're executives with the alarm company. We were told that the police were through with Meredith's apartment, and we were wondering if we might be able to take a look around?"

"Come on in," the door buzzed and Sam pulled it open.

They were met by a short woman glaring up at them with arms crossed.

"Alarm company, huh?" she asked. "Well, I hate to tell you this, but your alarms apparently don't work all that well."

"That's why we're here, ma'am," Jess assured her. "We want to look over the system and see what went wrong. We never want anything like this to happen again."

"This way," the landlady motioned for them to follow her up the stairs. She came to one of the apartments and unlocked it. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would've said it was an animal attack. The way poor Meredith was torn apart...I don't know what kind of monster you'd have to be to do something like that."

"Was there any chance that she maybe let her attacker in?" Sam suggested. "Maybe someone close to her who would've known the alarm code?"

"She couldn't have," the landlady explained. "The chain was on the door. Plus I'd seen Meredith come running in on the night she was killed. It looked like she was scared of something."

"Well we appreciate you letting us look around," Jess thanked her.

"Make sure to let me know when you're done so I can lock up," with that the landlady left them alone in the blood-stained apartment.

Sam pulled out the EMF meter, and it almost immediately started to whine. He looked hopeful at first, but then grimaced.

"Power lines," he frowned. "So this could be an actual reading or it could be nothing. Awesome."

"We can look for traces of sulfur," Jess said. "Ectoplasm, maybe?"

"I have a feeling that it wasn't a ghost," Sam shook his head. "For one thing, they're generally bound to a certain area and Meredith and this other guy don't live anywhere near each other. Sometimes they can possess people, but as soon as they leave the person they're possessing they get yanked right back to where they started. I guess it's possible they could tear the person apart from the inside out, though."

"No," Jess considered for a moment, looking around. "I took a class on analyzing blood spatters back at Stanford. Before I decided on becoming a pediatrician, I was thinking about maybe becoming an ME and working with the police. Kind of a 'one thing to another' type of jump, I know. Anyway, it was only one class, so I could be wrong, but I don't think the blood spatter is right. If a person was sort of exploded from the inside out, it would be different. Like, more pooled in one spot with spatters going out in all directions. This, though...I don't know."

"Do you think we can find any tape or string around here?" Sam was looking curiously at the rug. "These spots look different from the rest. Almost organized."

"I'm sure we can find something," Jess felt a little guilty for going through the dead woman's things, but she figured Meredith would probably forgive them, seeing as they were trying to find the thing that killed her.

"Here," Sam turned up a roll of masking tape from a junk drawer in the kitchen.

He knelt down and started connecting the spots of blood with the tape. When he'd placed the last piece, he stood up and moved back to get a better look. Sure enough, it was a symbol of some sort. One he'd never seen before, though.

"What is that?" Jess wondered.

"I don't know, but I bet that when we find out we'll know what we're dealing with," Sam took a picture of it with his phone and then started tearing the tape back up. "Let's walk over to the library and see if we can find anything before we go meet up with Dean."

* * *

Three hours later a very frustrated Jess and an even more frustrated Sam wove their way between people in the packed bar. They eventually found Dean exactly where they'd expected to find him. Leaned up against the bar, flirting with the admittedly very hot bartender. A slow grin broke out on Jess's face.

"Watch this," she said to Sam.

Jess sauntered over to Dean and wrapped her arms around him. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she leaned into him and smiled up

"Hey, baby," she drawled. "There you are! "

"Jess?" Dean's face was a picture of shock. "What..."

"You left your phone at my place when you left," Jess snaked Dean's phone out of his pocket and waved it around in front of his face. Turning to the bartender, she put a "dumb blonde" look on her face and put her left hand in her face. "Can you _believe_ I get to be engaged to this sexy guy? He's a little forgetful, but so damn cute!"

"Jess!" Dean yelped.

"I know, I know," Jess continued with the dumb blonde routine. She could hear Sam gasping for breath behind them from laughing so hard. "It's okay though, sweetheart. Everybody gets forgetful sometimes."

"Excuse me," Dean shot to his feet and grabbed Jess's wrist. Dragging her away from the bar, he finally noticed Sam and fixed him with a glare. Once they were out of the bartender's earshot he whirled on them and hissed, "What the hell was that?!"

"What was what?" Jess asked innocently.

"I was about thirty seconds away from getting her to take me back to her place once her shift was over!" Dean complained.

"Boo hoo," Sam teased. "Jess and I just spent the last three hours trying to research a damn symbol that doesn't even seem to exist. Bobby's working on it too, but even he hasn't found anything yet. Meanwhile, you're hanging out at a bar, hitting on the bartender. Did you even do any work?"

"Picking girls up is a lot of work, thank you," Dean muttered. "Fine. Yes, I asked some questions, but no one remembers Meredith acting weird or anything the day she died or the few days before. She came in, worked her shift, and left."

"Her landlady said that she was running when she got back to her building," Sam told him. "So whatever she was running from had to have happened between here and there."

"Hey, Dean," a girl with short blond hair sauntered up to them.

"Meg," Dean grinned. "This is my brother Sam and his fiancee Jess."

"Awesome," she smiled. "So, I'm getting ready to head home, if you...y'know."

"Absolutely," Dean put his arm around her waist. "Mind if we pick this back up tomorrow, guys? It's not like we can do anything more at this point anyway."

"You're hopeless, Dean. Completely hopeless," Sam rolled his eyes. "Go. Have fun. We'll get a room at one of the nearby motels. You know how to find us."

"See ya!" that was all Dean needed to hear.

Meg's apartment was only a few blocks from the bar, so she and Dean walked back. As soon as they entered her apartment building, she pushed Dean against the wall and started kissing him. They had just made it up the stairs and into her apartment (in about three times the amount of time it should've taken) when Meg's phone rang.

"Damn," she whined. She glanced at the caller ID and looked at Dean apologetically as she answered it. "My brother. What is it...are you sure...okay, see you in a few. Dean, I'm so sorry. I have to go. I can't really explain, but I have to leave. Next time, huh?"

"Uh, yeah," Dean shifted uncomfortably. "My car is back at the bar. I can drive you if you need."

"No!" Meg answered, almost too enthusiastically. "It's a family thing. No offense."

"None taken," now he was starting to feel suspicious. What woman gets a call from her brother and immediately gives up a night with Dean Winchester? Granted, there was a first time for everything, but still. "Seriously, it's no big deal. I'll just head back to the bar."

"Great," Meg led him towards the door.

Just before he left the living room, Dean saw something that put every single one of his hunter instincts on alert. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before. Then again, he had been sort of otherwise occupied. He let his eyes dart around the entire room quickly, taking in the pictures all over the place. Meg wasn't in a single one of them. Most of the pictures were of a girl with long brown hair. In most of them she was with someone, but she was in every one except maybe two.

"See you around, then," Meg said when they got back outside and she started walking in the opposite direction of the bar. Dean took a few steps in the direction he was supposed to be going and ducked into a doorway. This could be nothing, but his years of experience were telling him that it was something. Once he was sure that Meg was far enough ahead, he started tailing her.

Sure enough, she had only gone about six blocks when she looked around suspiciously and snuck into an abandoned building covered in graffiti. Family thing his ass! Dean made his way quietly into the building and came to a locked door. He considered picking it and taking the stairs, but decided at the last second not to. If Meg was going to this much trouble to be secretive, he didn't want to run into her. Instead, he peeked into the elevator shaft and, seeing that there were enough hand and footholds, started climbing. Reaching the top, he peeked through the doors.

Meg was standing in front of some sort of altar, talking into a bowl filled with blood. What was weirder is the fact that she was saying the word "Father" into it. With one last "yes, sir," Meg blew the candles on the altar out and left the way she'd come. Dean pulled himself the rest of the way out of the elevator shaft and crept over to it. Prominently in the middle was the symbol Sam had texted him. The one that had been in Meredith's apartment.

"What the hell is this?" Dean wondered. He looked at the other things on the altar, hoping to get some sort of clue. There was a book lying open, and he paged through it. It only took a few seconds to find what he was looking for. A page on how to summon and control something called a daeva. Apparently it was some sort of ancient shadow demon. Armed with that much information, Dean figured he'd pushed his luck enough for one night and made his way out of the abandoned building as quietly as possible.

He bolted back to the bar and wasn't really all that surprised to see that the Impala was still where he'd left it. He peeked inside for a second, just to be sure, but he didn't see Sam or Jess. Sam, the freakin' human Sasquatch, tended to be pretty easy to spot in a crowd, so he was confident that since he couldn't see him, Sam and Jess weren't there anymore. Dean did allow himself a smirk. Apparently his nagging had sunk in. Otherwise, Sam most likely would've taken the car. Snagging a phone book and looking up the first motel in it didn't take long, and only a few minutes later he was pulling into the parking lot. He noted with some satisfaction that it would only be a quick walk from the motel to the abandoned building.

"I figured it out!" Dean burst into the room after getting an extra key from the guy in the office.

"Jesus, Dean! How do you always do this?!" Sam demanded. "Don't you believe in knocking?"

"I will after this!" Dean obediently covered his eyes. Of course he _would_ walk in on them having sex. That was just rubbing salt in the wound at this point. If this had been during their teenage years he would either be peeking between his fingers or just wouldn't have covered his eyes at all, but Jess was different. She was actually important to him. "In my defense, you could've texted me or left something on the door or seriously anything."

"We expected you were going to be busy for a while!" Sam snapped.

Jeez, what did he have to be cranky about? At least he hadn't been shut down completely. They'd had a solid hour and a half from the time he'd left the bar until now. He had no sympathy.

"We're decent," Jess announced a moment later.

Since they lived in such close quarters "decent" meant something a bit different to them than it would to most people. To most people it would be embarrassing and uncomfortable, but Dean wasn't at all surprised when he uncovered his eyes and Jess was moving across the room in her underwear and the Smurfs shirt she'd been wearing the first time he met her. It was her preferred sleep shirt. Sam, not surprisingly, was still in bed with the covers pooled in his lap.

"What happened to Meg?" Sam was still scowling at him.

"That's what I have to tell you," Dean took the beer that Jess offered. "Meg isn't what she seems. The thing we're dealing with? A daeva. Meg's got an altar in this old, abandoned building that she's using to summon and control these things. I didn't want to hang around too long, in case she came back, but I figured I had enough that you could look up more about them."

"Me?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "Why do I need to research them?"

"Because," Dean explained. "You're my geek-boy little brother. It's what you do."

"I haven't been your 'little' brother since I was sixteen," Sam grumbled, finally getting out of bed. "Fine. What did you say these things were?"

"The book said it was a daeva," Dean repeated. "I guess it's some sort of ancient shadow demon. Whatever that means."

Sam tapped at his computer for a few minutes. Jess walked behind him and put her arms around him and her chin on his shoulder. He reached up unconsciously and took one of her hands. Honestly, he didn't know how he'd survived without Jess. She just made everything about his life better. Even hunting, which he'd come to hate with a passion, wasn't so bad as long as she was here. Of course, it was also about a hundred times more stressful, but there was no doubt that Jess could more than take care of herself on a hunt.

"Here we go," Sam finally announced. "It looks like a daeva, or shadow demon, is exactly what it sounds like. It's a demon that can only be seen by its shadow. They're violent, even by demon standards. That altar you saw is used to harness their power and bind you to them, but it's almost never been used before."

"Is there anything in there on how to kill them?" Dean asked.

"No," Sam said after a quick scan. "My best guess would be to destroy the altar, though. If they're not bound here anymore, they have no reason to stay."

"Let's do it, then," Dean reached for their weapons bag.

"Hey, whoa, hold on," Sam slapped his hand away. "Dude, did you not hear a single thing I just said? These daevas are dangerous. More dangerous than what we're used to. Plus we'll be dealing with Meg, who has to be some sort of powerful witch or something in order to have the ability to bind these things. I'm kind of partial to not being ripped apart, so let's take a night and get some rest."

"I think Sam's right," Jess agreed. "It's been a long day. Not all of us had a nice, relaxing night at the bar."

"Hey, I worked," Dean argued. "I'm the one who figured out what these things are! Not to mention getting not one, but _two_ phone numbers from hot girls."

"One of whom happened to be a crazy daeva summoning witch," Sam pointed out.

"And you actually did only get one number," Jess added. "The bartender never gave you hers."

"We don't know she's a witch," Dean reminded them. "I mean, she's most likely a witch. Or possibly a demon, I guess. I'm still counting the bartender as a win, though! She was about to give me her number until you started hanging all over me. She could've been my soul mate, for all you know. You're gonna feel bad if she was."

"Soul mate?" Sam laughed. "Dean, you don't even believe in soul mates."

"Doesn't matter!" Dean insisted. "Either way, I don't think we should wait. Who knows when Meg is gonna send these things out to kill someone else? If we wake up tomorrow and hear that someone else was torn to shreds we're going to feel like crap."

"Why do you have to be so damn reasonable sometimes?" Sam wondered. "Fine. What do we know about protection from demons?"

"Bobby says that iron will repel them," Dean thought about it. "I don't think that's going to do us any good, though. You can't exactly fight a shadow."

"So we go in with a little bit of everything and hope for the best. Great," Sam groaned.

"Let's get ready. We're on the move in ten," Dean dropped into the professional, Marine-like mindset that Dad had drilled into him. He started loading and checking his weapons, and saw Sam and Jess get dressed and start doing the same. He hesitated, but only for a second. This decision was going to make him pretty unpopular, but it was still the right one. "Jess...you're on the bench for this one."

"Excuse me?" Jess fixed him with a glare that would've had most people in a puddle on the floor, begging for forgiveness.

"Dean's right," Sam agreed, earning himself his own icy glare from the love of his life. "I don't want you on this one either, babe."

"So we're back to babying me every time you two get a little nervous?" Jess asked coldly.

"I don't even want Sam on this one," Dean pointed out. "We're not babying you. This is something none of us have dealt with before, and Sam and I are the more experienced hunters. Plus, we're going into a building with limited access. The fewer people on this hunt, the better our chances of getting in and out stealthily. None of that is babying you. It's all just logical planning."

"Sam!" Jess looked up at him, but his face was just as set as Dean's was.

"I'm sorry, hon," he shook his head. "I agree with my brother. We're not anywhere near prepared enough for this hunt. I'd rather you stay back here and be pissed at me than come with us and wind up dead."

"Wow. This is just great," Jess started to pace back and forth while Sam and Dean continued getting ready. "You two are going to have to start trusting me on the more difficult hunts eventually, you know."

"We do trust you," Dean checked his pistol one last time and tucked it into his waistband. He straightened up and looked directly at her. "This has nothing to do with trust. It has everything to do with being too complicated for someone who's still a fairly new hunter. I get that you're pissed about it, but that's my decision and it's not going to change."

"Who the hell died and made you the boss?" Jess snapped. She knew perfectly well that on a hunt, both she and Sam deferred to Dean, though. They were like a small Special Forces team and Dean was the team leader.

"Sam, let's go," Dean didn't bother to answer Jess. "Move out."

"I'm sorry, babe," Sam leaned down to give Jess a kiss. She wanted to deny him, but she wasn't _that_ pissed. If this was as dangerous as they were claiming, she wasn't going to let him go into it thinking she hated him. "I swear, I'll make it up to you. Stay safe. We'll be back. I promise."

Without any more hesitation, he followed Dean out of the motel room. The guilt over ganging up against Jess was probably going to eat at both of them when they were done, but for now they were in full hunter mode. Dean led the way back to the abandoned building. They were just coming around the corner when Dean grabbed Sam and yanked him back into a doorway. Meg was just slipping back into the building.

"There's an elevator shaft to the right as soon as we go in," Dean said softly. "You go first. Climb up to the top floor. I'll be right behind you. There are shelves and boxes all over the place, so we should be able to get in without being seen."

"You should go up first," Sam argued. "I'm too big. If I slip, I'll take both of us down."

"You won't slip," Dean insisted. "This isn't a discussion, Sam."

He sighed, but slipped into the graffiti-covered building and started climbing up the elevator shaft all the same. Once Dean had his overprotective streak working overtime, it was best just to go along with him. Sam reached the top floor and quietly boosted himself out of the elevator shaft. He could see the blonde from the bar standing at the altar Dean had described. He pulled his pistol and flicked the safety off, waiting until she moved slightly so that the small click wouldn't be heard. Dean pulled himself out of the elevator shaft behind Sam and motioned in the direction he wanted him to go.

They both fell easily into the unconscious way they had of being able to move around each other without saying a word. A glance from Sam. A raised eyebrow from Dean. That was all they needed to communicate. They were dead silent as they slowly crept forward.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to take the stairs boys?" Meg laughed, not even turning.

Sam and Dean looked at each other in surprise. There was no way she could've heard them. Still, there was no point in hiding anymore so they moved closer, guns still pointed at her.

"It might've been," Dean answered. "But I don't make a habit of waltzing right in the door when I know there's a witch waiting for me."

"Witch?" Meg laughed again. She turned to look at them and seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that she had two pistols pointed at her face. "Honey, I'm no witch. I'm much, much worse."

Her eyes went black and she flicked a hand, sending Sam and Dean's guns flying across the room. They both reached for backup weapons, but Meg just laughed again. Dean was getting really tired of hearing her laugh.

"I don't think so," she warned.

Before they knew what was happening, something with sharp claws was on them. One threw Dean across the room where he hit the wall headfirst, while the other sliced at Sam. He managed to step back and avoid the worst of it, but still wound up with three long scratches down his face and arm. It howled in frustration and threw him across the room too. His head slammed into one of the shelves and after that everything went black.

Meg wasted no time dragging the Winchester brothers over and tying them up. Even with the hits they'd taken, they weren't likely to be unconscious for long. Sure enough, she'd only finished tying the last knot a minute or two before Dean started to stir. Moments later, Sam shook himself awake too. Meg leaned back against the altar and smiled widely at them.

"Well, well, the mighty Winchester boys all trussed up," she mocked. "This worked out even better than I'd hoped. My daevas are proving to be awfully useful."

"A demon summoning a bunch of demons," Dean sniffed. "Seems a little redundant to me. So yeah, you got us. What now? You want us to sit around here and look pretty?"

"That's one idea," Meg shrugged. "But no. You're bait. Just like those two people I had the daevas kill were bait."

"Bait? Bait for what?" Sam asked. He already had a pretty good idea of what for, but he wanted to keep Meg talking. He'd worked a small knife out of his pocket and was starting to saw at the ropes around his wrists. A glance over to Dean showed that he was doing the same thing.

"Your father, of course," Meg answered. "He's after someone very important to me and I plan on stopping him before he can get any closer. What better way to draw John Winchester out than by using his children?"

"My god, you really are that stupid," Dean smirked. "We may have fallen into your trap, but there's no way our Dad will. He's too smart for that. When he does come, he won't be caught off guard."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see," Meg still looked smugly confident.

"So this 'someone' who's so important to you," Sam was almost through the ropes. Just another minute or so. "Let me guess. He's a demon, too? Yellow eyes? Likes destroying families and killing women? What's so special about him, anyway?"

"You have your father. I have mine," Meg said, still lounging back against the altar.

"Wait, Yellow Eyes is your father?" Dean asked disgustedly. He thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't want to take his eyes off of Meg just yet.

"Is it so hard to understand that I'd be loyal to my father the way you are to yours?" Meg finally pushed herself up and crouched in front of Dean. He stopped sawing at the ropes around his wrists and quickly tucked the knife up into his sleeve.

Now that Meg had moved, Dean was positive he could see movement. She was right in his face, so he still couldn't turn to look, though. For all he knew it could be those damned shadow demons again.

"I'm protecting my family just like you would," Meg hissed.

"What makes you think we won't find a way to warn our Dad?" Sam asked.

"You won't have a chance," Meg's smile was back. "You don't have to be alive to be bait, you know."

The shadow demons reared up behind Meg again and both brothers started tearing harder at the ropes. They were close, but not close enough. The daevas lunged towards them and they both cringed. Dean was frantic, but not for his own sake.

"Sammy!" he yelled, and the amount of pain in his voice just wasn't bearable. He'd failed his most important mission and his punishment was going to be having to watch as his little brother was torn apart. He yanked so hard on the ropes that he almost expected to hear his wrists snap. He would've gladly torn them both off to get between the daeva and Sam, though.

"Hey!" a shout came from behind both Meg and the daevas, making them all turn. "Leave my boys alone."

Jess didn't give any more warning before she reached for the altar and flipped it, destroying everything on it. There was a split second where they all just looked at each other. Then the daevas attacked. Meg screamed as they started to drag her across the room. She was thrown straight through the boarded up windows and the three hunters heard a sickening crunch as she landed three stories below.

"Oh my god!" Sam was looking at Jess in awe.

"Not a word," she glared at both her fiancee and his brother. She strode over and grabbed the knives out of both of their hands, then moved a few steps away to look at both of them.

"Uh, honey?" Sam asked nervously. "You gonna untie us?"

"Actually, you two are right where I want you for the moment," Jess crossed her arms. "You should both be thanking god that I don't listen to you."

"We are, believe me," Dean offered quickly. "We..."

"I am _not_ done yet," Jess snapped. Both boys hung their heads sheepishly. "That whole excuse about it being something brand new is exactly why I should've been on this hunt with you. You needed all the help you could get and instead you went off half-cocked and almost got yourselves killed."

"Baby," Sam tried this time.

"Still not done," Jess raised her voice above whatever he'd been planning to say. "I can't say it any clearer than this. We. Are. A. Team. That means we're all equal and we make decisions _together_. You don't get to leave me behind anymore just because you think it's too dangerous. I think I've proven that I'm a good enough hunter to have at least that much respect."

Sam and Dean both fidgeted uncomfortably. They both knew she was right, but they also knew that their protective instincts weren't going to go away that easily. Still, Jess was kind of holding all the cards right now.

"This is the part where you two say 'yes ma'am' if you're interested in saving your own hides."

The brothers looked up, eyes wide. Good lord this was getting worse every second.

"Dad!" they both squirmed.

"Mr. Winchester?" Jess asked.

"You must be Jess," John smiled at her, ignoring his boys for the time being. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Yes, sir. You, too," Jess said a little stiffly. She wasn't anywhere near ready to forget some of the things she'd been told about the man. Walking back over to Sam and Dean, she cut the rest of the way through the ropes.

"Jesus, Dad," Dean walked right up to his father and hugged him roughly. "Where the hell have you been? What the hell are you doing here?"

"After I called to tell you about this hunt, a demon I was questioning let slip that the yellow-eyed demon had a daughter," John explained. "I realized that she was here and figured the hunt was actually some sort of trap. Hauled ass here as fast as I could. I assume she's the one who just took the swan dive out the window?"

"Yes, sir," Dean nodded. "Do you think she's dead? Is it even possible to kill a demon like that?"

"I'm not sure," John admitted. "Normally I'd say no, but whatever those things were that killed her were supernatural too. I guess it's possible."

He turned his attention to Sam, who was standing behind Jess with his arms around her waist. They both smiled awkwardly.

"Hi, Sammy," John finally broke the silence.

"Hey, Dad," Sam looked down at the floor.

"So, uh," John cleared his throat. "We had us one hell of a blowout last time we were together."

"Yes, sir," Sam agreed. Blowout was one word for it. Not the one he would've used, but still.

"I said some things that night," John cleared his throat again and shifted his weight. "Things I regret saying."

"Me too," Sam let a small smile drift onto his face. It was the closest either of them were going to get to an apology.

"It's good to see you again, son," one corner of John's mouth quirked up.

"Yes, sir," Sam repeated. He stepped forward, but hesitated. Yeah, they'd just had some sort of awkward non-apology apology, but he _had_ said some pretty ugly things that night. What if he wasn't fully forgiven yet?

John saw the confusion on his younger son's face and solved it by pulling him in for a tight hug. Dean looked on proudly and went to put an arm around Jess, who was still looking unsure.

"Give him a chance," he leaned down to whisper. "I'm not saying he's perfect, but things got left pretty badly between the two of them and you only got to hear one side of it. They've always butted heads, but they always manage to work it out in the end."

With a slap on the back, John let go of Sam. He took a step back and they both tried to hide the fact that their eyes were slightly wet. Sam made his way back over to Jess and put his arm around her waist too. John couldn't help but smile at the picture they made. He'd seen Jess from a distance when he would go to Stanford and check on Sam, and had always known she was a good influence on his younger son.

"So this yellow-eyed demon," Dean brought up gently. "It sounds like you're pretty close."

"I am," John allowed. "Or at least I'm getting there. I have to believe that if he's trying to distract me and pull me off his trail, I must be close."

"Good, where do we start?" Sam asked, arm tightening around Jess.

"We?" John frowned. He could see where this was going to go. "Sammy, it's not safe for you three yet."

"You can't keep us out of this, Dad!" Sam gritted his teeth. "This demon is something we should be going after together."

"And we will," John sighed. "Just not yet."

"Sammy," Dean warned. He could see where this was going too, although he'd hoped Dad and Sam could keep from biting each others' heads off for more than five seconds. It wasn't like he was thrilled to hear that Dad planned to take off again either, though. "Dad, are you sure? You did just hear Jess's speech back there. You don't think this is along the same lines as that."

This time John hesitated. He had been pretty impressed by the way the young woman had handled his boys and the things she'd said. To be honest, the things she'd said did seem to be relevant in this case too. He was just getting ready to admit that when there was an ear-piercing shriek that sent all four of them to their knees. The daevas were suddenly back and two made a beeline for John while two more attacked Sam, Dean, and Jess.

Sam and Dean instantly pushed Jess to the ground to protect her. One of the daevas slashed at Dean, who dodged back just in time to avoid having his stomach ripped open. Sam yelped and grabbed at his arm, but kept trying to make his way across the room to where he thought his gun had been thrown to. Seeing that all four of the daevas seemed to be ignoring her, Jess scrambled for the small weapons bag in the corner. She had no idea what was going to work against these damn things, but there had to be _something_. Digging through the bag, she had an idea. There were cries from all three Winchesters and she prayed it would work. If not, she had a feeling they were all dead.

"Shut your eyes!" Jess yelled, hoping they would hear her, but not waiting to find out. She yanked an emergency flare out of the bag, lit it, and threw it towards the nearest shadow. The room immediately started to fill with smoke, but it also filled with light and the shadow demons were forced out.

"Jess!" Sam coughed.

"We have to get out of here," she yelled back, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt.

"Where's Dad?" Dean was doubled over, but still trying to look around the room.

"Right here!" John yelled. "Come on. That won't keep them away forever. We need to go."

The four hunters stumbled down the stairs and out onto the street, hacking and coughing but alive. John's big black pickup was parked by the curb.

"You boys look like hell," John said, looking at his sons in concern. They were both covered in gashes from the daeva's claws. Even in the dim light on the street, he could see several on both boys that needed stitches.

"We'll be fine," Dean insisted. "You need to go, Dad. This trap is for you, and we're giving them what they want right now. You're right. It is too dangerous for us to be with you right now. Dangerous for you."

"What? Dean!" Sam protested.

"We almost got Dad killed in there, Sammy," Dean argued. "He can't hunt the demon if he has to be worried about us. You just promise us that when you do find it, we're in on that."

"I promise," John agreed. "I still don't like the way some of those cuts look, though."

"I was pre-med back at Stanford," Jess assured him. "I can stitch them up and make sure they don't get infected."

"You promise to be careful," Sam was still obviously unhappy, but he couldn't deny what Dean had said.

"Only if you three will," John pushed some of Sam's too-long hair out of his eyes.

With a nod, John got into his truck and peeled away. Sam, Dean, and Jess made their way quickly back to their motel. Well, as quick as they could, anyway. Now that the adrenaline rush was fading, Sam and Dean were starting to realize just how beaten up they were. By the time they dragged themselves into the motel room Jess was flitting between the both of them, praying they weren't going to collapse. Neither was in any shape to carry the other and it would be flat-out impossible for her to do it. Her only option would be an ambulance and she knew how that was apt to go over. She let out a relieved sigh as she pushed them each onto one of the beds.

"Take these," she ordered, pulling antibiotics out of their first aid kit. She wasn't planning to wait for signs of infection if she could head it off. She stepped back and looked them both over, appraising. Deciding that Dean was slightly worse off than Sam, she started with him. Most of the cuts she was able to just bandage but two of them, both across his chest, needed stitches.

Sam had fallen asleep by the time she was done with Dean. He sat up stiffly to help her clean up, but she pushed him gently back down.

"Rest while you can," she told him. "I'm going to take care of Sam and then we're leaving. I don't know where we're going, but we can't stay. We weren't exactly inconspicuous on our way back here."

"I'll call Caleb," Dean dragged himself back up. "He's got cabins scattered all the hell over the country. I think there's one in Aiken, about three hours from here. I know he won't mind letting us use it."

"Deano! Caleb answered happily on the second ring. There was only an eight year age difference between the two of them, and they had always been friends. "It's been too long! What're you up to, buddy?"

"Hey Caleb," Dean said tiredly. "Lots to catch you up on. Right now I'm calling to ask a favor. You still got that cabin over in Aiken, Illinois?"

"Yeah, key's where it always is," Caleb heard the tone of his friend's voice and went from happy to worried just like that. "You and your Dad okay?"

"For the most part," Dean wasn't willing to lie outright to the man. "Sam and I got pretty well banged up on a hunt in Chicago. We just need a place to lay low for a few days."

"You know you're welcome anytime," Caleb assured him. "I'll meet you there and you can tell me what-all's going on. Starting with what the hell Sam's doing hunting again."

"Trust me, that's not where you're going to want to start," Dean chuckled, glancing over at Jess. "You don't need to, but it'd sure as hell be nice to see you again."

"I'm already on my way out the door, so don't give me any of your 'you don't need to' crap," Caleb scolded. "It'll take me longer to get there than it'll take you, but I'll be there."

"Awesome, thanks Caleb," Dean said and hung up.

"We'll be ready to go in about half an hour," Jess said over her shoulder.

Half an hour. More than enough time for a nap, Dean decided. He glanced over at his brother once more to make sure he was okay before letting his eyes close. He kind of liked bossy Jess. Not that he wanted her to be bossy _all_ the time. That was his job. Every once in a while wasn't so horrible, though. It was amusing if nothing else. Smiling lightly, he allowed himself to drift to sleep. Caleb was going to kick his ass for him when he explained that he'd been the one to drag Sam back into hunting and had then pulled Jess in too, but it was going to be good to see his old friend again. Once he and Sam were healed back up they'd find another hunt to occupy themselves until Dad called them back in. Sounded like a plan to him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** Hey all! I'm really sorry for the extra extended length of time that it took me to write this chapter. I swear if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Lol. I had a family emergency at the beginning of the week. My husband is a truck driver and travels up and down the East Coast. We live in Pennsylvania and he was down in Georgia when the motor in his tractor trailer decided to blow. So I got to take an impromptu trip down to Georgia and back (about 20+ hours one way) to retrieve him. If it's any consolation, this chapter is extra long to make up for the extra long wait! Thank you all so much for your patience with my inconsistent self. Hope y'all enjoy this newest chapter! It's based sort of on "Nightmares", the Max Miller episode, but there are a _lot_ of changes. Hope I didn't go too overboard! :D

* * *

 _No, no, no. Not here,_ Sam begged silently. Uselessly, too. The flashes of light and pains that came with them were already happening and they were already too bad for him to consider moving somewhere more private than the diner booth they were currently sitting in.

They'd been holed up with Caleb at one of his cabins for the past week, but between the days they'd been ordered to take off by Missouri and the idle week at Caleb's with only the one hunt in between, they were climbing the walls. They didn't really have a destination in mind, but getting back on the road was step one.

"I figure if we don't find anything by the end of today, we can head south," Dean was saying. "It's usually easy enough to find a chupacabra or two lurking around near the border and...Sam?"

Sam had hunched over, laid his forehead on the table, and covered it with his arms. He was trying to stay quiet, but a small, pained whine made it's way up and out of his throat as the vision hit full force.

"Shit," Dean cursed. His eyes darted around the diner. It was fairly empty, which was both a blessing and a curse. There weren't a lot of people who could see and worry, but it also meant that they were going to draw more attention from the few people who were here. "Is there any chance you can move, Sammy?"

"I think we may be well past that point," Jess answered for him. She rubbed the back of Sam's neck. Nothing helped the pain of his visions, but it made her feel like she was doing something useful.

"E-excuse me?" a waitress came over to their table with wide eyes. "Is he okay? Should I call an ambulance?"

"No!" Dean and Jess both yelled at the same time.

"Sorry," Jess lowered her voice. "Thank you, but he's fine. He gets bad migraines and they hit really suddenly sometimes. The worst of it will let up in a minute or two."

That made no sense, but the waitress seemed to accept the excuse.

"Would you like some ice?" she asked, concern still written all over her face. "He's sweating pretty badly. Maybe some ice on the back of his neck will help with the pain?"

"That would be great," Jess forced a smile. It wouldn't help, but it would get rid of her.

Dean had already dismissed the woman as soon as he realized Jess had taken over that end of things. He reached across the table towards his brother and Sam's hand instantly clamped down on his wrist, tight enough to hurt. He wasn't about to complain, though. During a vision, touch seemed to soothe and ground Sam. Even so, Dean had ordered Jess not to get too close to him if the two of them were alone when a vision hit. There had been a time or two when Dean swore he heard bones grind together in his hand or arm or wherever. Jess was tough, but a grip like that on her more than had the potential to actually break the tiny bones in her hand or wrist.

The waitress returned with a bag of ice wrapped in a towel a minute later. She moved back to the counter, but she and the other waitress on duty hovered there, looking like they wanted to call an ambulance anyway. One of them actually reached for the phone as Sam snapped back to reality with a cry, but dropped her hand when she saw that he seemed to be in good hands.

Jess reached forward to gently pry Sam's fingers open. She picked up the ice pack and placed it on Dean's wrist with a wince. There were already some nasty-looking bruises forming. Dean flinched, but held it in place and trotted out to the Impala. A few seconds later he came back with aspirin and his "don't-mess-with-me-you-will-take-these-Sam" look.

"We have to go," Sam obediently took the aspirin. He stumbled to his feet and pulled Jess after him. "We have to go now."

"Hey, whoa, relax," Dean tossed some money down on the table and followed his shaky brother out the door. "What's going on? What did you see?"

Instead of answering, Sam dropped into the Impala and snatched his laptop out of its bag. Even in the state his poor head was in, it only took him a few minutes to hack into the California DMV and look up a license plate number.

"Here," he turned the computer for Dean to see. "This address. We have to go here. Someone's going to die."

"Okay, hold on," Dean held his hands up. "Tell me what you saw first. I'm not going into this blind."

"Honestly?" Sam let out a laugh that had absolutely no humor in it. "I have no idea. I saw this guy and...something attacked him. It locked him in his car in the garage."

"Are you sure?" Jess asked gently.

"Positive," Sam insisted. "Please guys. You know I'm not making this up. Something attacked this guy and whatever it was, was invisible. We've gone after less."

"Alright," Dean started the car up. "Okay. We're at least a day's drive from Atherton, though."

"Atherton?" Jess peered closer at Sam's computer. "That's only a few miles away from Stanford."

"I know," Sam leaned his head back against the seat as Dean peeled out of the diner parking lot. He felt horrible. They'd already been on the road for eight hours today. They'd stopped for dinner and had been planning to find a motel afterwards and instead he was forcing them back on the road for another twenty-two or twenty-three. At least. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Jess kissed his forehead. "We can drive in shifts so it won't be so bad."

"Excuse me? We?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, we," Jess glared at him. "You've already driven for most of the day and you're going to need to sleep for a little while. I don't know why you're making a big deal of this. It's not like I haven't driven your car."

"When I was half torn apart by a daeva," Dean argued. "Nothing short of being injured gets me out of this driver's seat. I barely even let Sam drive!"

"Jess is right," Sam forced his eyes back open. "You need to rest, Dean. Give me an hour and I'll be okay to drive."

"No you won't," Dean scowled. "We all know you're not going to feel right until tomorrow at the earliest. No, lay your head back and go to sleep. It's not like I've never driven this long before."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Sam complained, but leaned against the window all the same. "Do me a favor and if you get in an accident because you pass out behind the wheel, make sure I don't live through it. It'd be a hell of a lot less painful than this headache."

"Shut up," Dean mumbled. "I'd never crash my Baby."

* * *

"Oh no," Dean sagged as he saw the flashing ambulance and police car lights in front of the address they'd spent the past twenty-two hours racing towards. He'd finally given in and let Jess drive for a while, but had taken over again less than four hours later.

He parked along the curb and the three of them sidled over to join the crowd standing behind the police tape. Everyone was huddled together, whispering.

"What happened here?" Dean asked an older woman who looked like she was fighting back tears.

"Police are saying it was a suicide," she sniffed sadly. "Jim Miller locked himself in his car and shut the garage up."

"That's horrible," Jess said. It was, but for more reasons than the elderly woman realized. That was exactly what Sam had seen in his vision. "When did they find him?"

"Only about forty minutes ago," the woman answered. "So sad. They always seemed like such a well put together family. I can't imagine what would've caused him to do something like this. I guess it's true that you can never really know what goes on behind closed doors."

Suddenly, Sam turned on his heel and stalked back to the Impala. Instead of getting in though, he paced back and forth next to it. Jess stayed near the old woman long enough to seem polite, but Dean immediately followed his brother.

"This isn't your fault," he tried to head off the blame he knew Sam was already feeling. "Sammy. This is _not_ your fault. We got here as soon as we could."

"Why the hell did I even have this vision if there was nothing I couldn't do anything about it?" Sam hissed. "It makes no sense!"

"I don't know," Dean admitted. "There's nothing more we can do here for right now, though. We'll come back tomorrow and see what we can find then."

"Sam?" a voice came from behind them.

Both Sam and Dean turned to see a cop walking towards them. Dean frowned, quickly reaching for his fake FBI badge, but Sam put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Hey Jack," he greeted the cop with a weak smile.

"Goddamn, I thought that was you," Jack slapped Sam on the shoulder. "You're kinda hard to miss, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Sam agreed.

"So, what are you doing here?" Jack asked curiously. "And where's that little sister of mine?"

"Little sister?" Dean asked.

"Dean, this is one of Jess's brothers," Sam explained. "Jack, this is my older brother, Dean."

"Nice to meet you, man," Jack extended a hand. "Jess has told me a lot about you. Our parents don't necessarily agree, but I think this road trip has been good for her, so thank you for that."

"Uh. Thanks?" Dean wasn't really sure how to respond to that.

"Jack?!" Jess had finally made her way back to the car. She threw her arms around her brother.

"Hey baby girl," he kissed the top of her head. "I saw Sam hanging around and was just asking what you guys were doing here. You guys here for a visit or are you done with your road trip already?"

"Just a visit," Jess lied. "We wanted to visit a friend over here for the night and then head over to Mom and Dad's in the morning. I wanted it to be a surprise. This, though...this is awful."

"It is. What's even worse is that the guy's kid found him," Jack motioned to the house where a woman was crying into a man's chest, while another man who looked about their age stood awkwardly near them.

"Poor thing," Jess replied. "I guess, given all of this, maybe we'll head over to Mom and Dad's tonight. Our friend knew the Miller's so I don't think he's going to really feel up to company."

"Maybe you should spend the night with Grace and I instead?" Jack suggested. "No offense, but you three look like hell. Might not be the best of times to face Mom and Dad, y'know?"

"Is there ever a good time for that?" Sam muttered under his breath.

Jack didn't seem to hear that, but Dean did. He looked at his brother in confusion. Sam was practically every parent's idea of the perfect son. The few times they'd been in a town long enough for him to start dating someone, the girl's parents had always loved him. Something must've gone very wrong if Jess's parents didn't.

"That's a great idea. Thanks Jack!" Jess hugged him again.

"Normally I'd say to just drop in and surprise Grace, but I'm not so sure that's a great idea right now," Jack laughed. "She's completely done being pregnant, but I don't think she'd be very appreciative of you scaring the baby out in the middle of the living room."

"You're no fun!" Jess teased.

"Wait...can that actually happen?" Dean was horrified. He was pretty sure it wasn't, but there was no way he was going to risk it and wind up playing midwife to some lady he'd never even met before.

"Technically yes, but highly unlikely," Jess shook her head at him. "Don't worry, I'll call her on our way over. What time are you going to make back?"

"Probably not till late," Jack admitted. "I was the first one on-scene, so I'm gonna have a mountain of paperwork to do before I can leave. I have the day off tomorrow, so we'll come with you guys to Mom and Dad's in the morning."

"Have I ever mentioned that you're my favorite brother?" Jess asked.

"Once or twice," Jack glanced over his shoulder. "Listen, I've gotta get back over there, but I'll see y'all in the morning."

Jack trotted back towards the house and Sam leaned his head down on the roof of the Impala with a groan. He still had the remnants of a headache from the vision, there was guilt slamming into him over not being able to do anything about it, and now this.

"Really Jess?" he asked miserably.

"What was I supposed to say?" she demanded. "It would've looked weird to Jack if we were in town and weren't planning to visit my parents. Unless you think telling him the truth was the best option."

"Will someone explain to me what the issue with the parents is?" Dean wondered.

"We hate each other. There. It's explained," Sam snapped moodily.

"My parents are a little...okay a lot hard to get along with," Jess ignored him. "They had this big plan of the 'perfect guy' for their baby girl."

"Let me guess. A guy with a shady past, from nowhere, who had no contact with his family, and had no desire to explain any of that didn't fit the profile?" Dean assumed.

"That sums it up pretty well," Jess agreed. "Even after Sam and I moved in together and I told them I love him, they kept thinking they could make me see things their way."

"Telling them that you two are engaged should be fun then," Dean sighed. "Can't do anything about this now, I guess. Let's get to your brother's house before I drop."

Jess texted her sister-in-law while pointing out directions to the house. As expected, Grace was thrilled to hear that they were on their way and she actually met them at the door when Dean pulled into the driveway. His eyes went wide when he saw the house, though.

"How the hell does your brother afford this on a cop's salary?" he asked.

"Detective, but still," Jess corrected. "Both of my parents come from families with a lot of money. They were pissed when he chose to become a cop instead of going into business or medicine or something along those lines, but no matter how upset they were, they weren't going to let him live like that. Jack was perfectly happy to, but they wouldn't allow it. They bought the house and completely guilted him into taking it."

"Jess!" Grace squealed from the front porch as they piled out. "Oh my god, come here sweetie!"

"Gracie!" Jess ran up the stairs and hugged the other woman. "I missed you!"

"You need to start coming by for more visits," Grace scolded. Holding her arms out again she looked sternly at Sam. "You get over here, too mister."

"Hi Grace," Sam couldn't help a small smile. He may not get along with Jess's parents, but her brothers and Grace were a completely different story.

"You must be Dean," Grace turned to him next. "C'mon over here. Jess has had nothing but good things to say about you, which makes you honorary family."

"Uh, hi," Dean tried to stay out of arm's reach, and got a stern look.

"Oh no," Grace opened her arms for the third time. "Everybody gets a hug. I may live in California now, but I was born and raised in Texas and that's just how we do things."

"I'm okay. Really," Dean insisted. "I'm just gonna..."

"Dude?" Sam was actually holding back laughter now. "Unless you want your ass kicked by a pregnant woman, I'd suggest doing as she says. That is one woman you do not mess with."

"I thought Jess was the one woman I shouldn't mess with," Dean snipped, finally allowing himself close enough for a hug.

"Where do you think she learned it?" Grace asked. "Now. Are you three hungry? You look exhausted, but there's plenty of food in the house if you're hungry first."

"Food?" Dean perked up. "Absolutely."

"Good," Grace led them in. "There's chicken, some left over pot roast, or I can make some pasta. If you're not in the mood for that, I just baked three pies this afternoon."

"You've just become my new favorite person," Dean looked like he was in heaven.

"All the guest rooms are made up if y'all aren't hungry, Sam," Grace noticed that his smile had disappeared. "I guess I've gone a little crazy with cooking and cleaning and organizing now that my nesting instinct has kicked in."

"Does this mean my little niece or nephew should finally be making an appearance soon?" Jess asked excitedly.

"I sure hope so," Grace laughed. "I've had more than enough of swollen feet, a sore back, and a baby sitting on my bladder twenty-four seven. Not to mention I can't wait to have my little one in my arms and...Jessica Lee Moore what is _that_?!"

"What? You mean this?" Jess beamed as Grace snatched her left hand up. "It's an engagement ring."

The squeal from the pregnant woman was enough to make both Sam and Dean wince. She crushed Jess into another hug and when she finally let her go, both women were in tears.

"Well it is about time," Grace asserted, pulling Sam in for another hug too.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Sam wondered.

"Because it took you long enough, you thick-headed idiot," the words were mean, but Grace's tone was kind. "Oh this is wonderful! You and I have to talk plans, missy!"

"If it's all the same, I think I am going to go lie down for the night," Sam backed away slowly. For some reason asking Jess to marry him had been one thing, but actually talking about doing it was another. Not that he was having second thoughts. Far from it. She was the love of his life, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit intimidated by how big of a step this was. With everything else going on, he just couldn't think or talk about this right now.

"I'll be up soon, honey," Jess said, giving him a kiss.

She looked up into his eyes to make sure he was okay. The answer to that was a clear and resounding no, but then again she hadn't been expecting much else.

"You know what? I think maybe sleep might be better than food right now, too," Dean suddenly spoke up. He glanced over at Jess and they had a short conversation with just their eyes. It was no secret that Dean Winchester did _not_ turn down food for anything less than dire circumstances but Sam needed to feel needed right now. "Sammy, show me around this damn castle, wouldja?"

"I'm way too tired to even tell you that you're an idiot," Sam sighed. Great, now they were babying him. Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Whatever. He'd deal with it in the morning when he could actually think straight.

"For being too tired, you did a pretty good job of saying just that," Dean bumped Sam with his shoulder playfully as they stumbled up the stairs.

"Second door on the left," Sam directed, not bothering to respond to his brother. "That's one of the guest rooms. Jess and I have the room across the hall."

"Hey dude?" Dean frowned. "You know I'm not really one to..."

"Then don't!" Sam yelled. It came out more forcefully than he'd intended and he sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it. Right now all I want to do is sleep and hopefully when I wake up this is all just gonna prove to be a bad dream."

"What are the odds of that happening?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely none," Sam admitted. "Just drop it for tonight Dean, please?"

"Fine, but if you don't stop beating the hell out of yourself we are gonna have to talk about this," Dean warned.

"Okay. Right. Whatever," Sam knew he was just being a brat now, but he'd care another time. "Are we done with the chick flick moment you claim to hate so much? Can I get some damn sleep now?"

"Go," Dean waved him away. "Maybe don't take your estrogen pills tomorrow though. I swear, you might as well be PMSing."

Instead of answering Sam scowled and closed the door just this side of not hard enough to be considered a slam. It was only a minute or two later that Jess came up the stairs, looking concerned. Dean waved her into his room before she could head in to Sam.

"He's getting worse," they both said at the same time.

"You go first," Jess offered.

"Have I been imagining things, or does it seem like Sam's been beating himself up worse than usual lately?" Dean asked.

"You don't have an imagination," Jess teased. It was a coping mechanism she and Dean both used. "He has. It always feels like he's trying to make up for something. I don't know what, but that's what it feels like to me."

"Me too," Dean huffed. "He's always been more prone to blame himself for things out of his control, but recently it's been getting worse. I know he's been blaming himself since we had to go our separate ways from Dad again. Not being in time to save this guy seems like one of those 'the straw that broke the camel's back' sort of things."

"Being around my parents isn't going to do him any favors, either," Jess winced. "They tend to make him feel like he's not good enough for whatever he happens to be doing at the moment."

"Which is exactly the way he's always felt around our Dad," Dean rubbed at the back of his neck. "He always wanted a normal life, which of course made him the odd one out in our family."

"Maybe once we start working this case things will settle in a little?" Jess hoped. "We've had a lot of downtime lately. Even at school he never did all that well with that."

"I hate to say it, but I don't know how much help you two are going to be on this one," Dean fidgeted. "This is really close to home for you two. I can get away with claiming to be someone I'm not and not risk bumping into someone I know. You two though..."

"It's a risk we're going to have to take," Jess cut him off. "I might have to hang back a little because I know my family is going to want to spend time with me, but maybe you two taking on a case together like old times will snap him out of whatever this is."

"Worth a shot, I guess," Dean said. "God I feel like an ass talking behind his back this way."

"So do I," Jess agreed. "I think it might be warranted in this case though."

"Possibly," Dean wasn't entirely sure, but he didn't really have a valid argument against it. "We can hash this out some more in the morning. I don't know about you, but I'm beat."

"Yeah," Jess punctuated that statement with a huge yawn. "See you in the morning."

* * *

Dean and Jess dragged their way downstairs the next morning, both frowning. Sam hadn't been in bed when Jess had woken up, and his side of the bed looked like it had barely been used at all last night. Entering the kitchen they saw him sitting at the table with a newspaper in front of him and huge bags under his eyes.

"Baby..." Jess started to scold.

"So get this," Sam cut her off before she could go any further. "Morning paper says that the Millers, that family from last night, are going to be having a small memorial tomorrow at their house. The guy's kid, Max, is mine and Jess's age so I'm thinking we can lie our way in by saying we're friends with him. He's the one who found Jim Miller, so we can use that cover to talk to him and see what he knows, if anything."

"Awesome. Really," Dean scowled. He snatched the paper away from his brother. "Bed, now Sam."

"Dude, I'm not five," Sam snapped. "I got a few hours last night. I'm fine."

"You do realize that you're going to have to deal with my parents today, right?" Jess reminded him.

"I can handle putting up with your parents," Sam leaned up for a kiss, hoping to distract her.

"Have you at least eaten?" Jess sighed, knowing the sleep argument wasn't happening.

"A little," Sam lied. Coffee counted as food, right? Coffee was made from beans and beans were food.

"Liar," Jess cuffed the back of his head. "I'm making breakfast and you will eat."

"Yes, ma'am," Sam answered with a grin.

"That goes for both of you."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean repeated, with an identical grin.

"You two are impossible," Jess rolled her eyes and opened the fridge. Jeez. Grace really hadn't been joking when she said her nesting instinct had kicked in. There wasn't a spare inch of fridge space left.

Pulling food out, Jess couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She was surprised at how much she liked the hunting lifestyle, but there were certain things she wanted that didn't mesh well with that. Kids, for instance. Living life on the road, bouncing from motel to motel, never staying in one place long enough to make real friends...she didn't want to raise a child like that. Sure, Sam and Dean had been raised that way, but Sam had made it abundantly clear how he felt about his upbringing. Doing that to his own child would probably kill him. Maybe they could come up with some sort of middle ground? Thankfully it wasn't something she had to think about right now. Not that that stopped the jealous feeling nibbling at her.

While Jess set food out, Dean snagged Sam's cup and two others from a cabinet and filled them all with coffee, meanwhile Sam pulled the newspaper back over and continued looking through it. It always left all of them a little in awe of how fast they'd slipped into a comfortable routine together. Just like last night between Dean and Jess, none of them actually needed to talk to be completely comfortable in the other two's presence and know exactly what they wanted.

They were all just about ready to start eating when the back door slammed open and there was the scrabble of claws on the hardwood floor. Sam and Dean's hands immediately dipped for the guns in their waistbands, hunter instincts too ingrained not to. Jess found herself shoved backwards, her fiancee and his brother pointing their weapons at the door, before she had a chance to stop them.

"Whoa!" Jack dove back out of the kitchen. "Jesus, Sam! What are you doing?!"

There was no time to answer before both brothers were knocked nearly flat by the four huge black dogs Jack had just brought back inside with him. Dean almost shot the one currently trying to slobber all over his face. These things were practically hellhound-sized!

"Sorry!" Sam shouted, sheepishly tucking the pistol back into his waistband and motioning for Dean to do the same. He knelt and all four dogs pounced.

"Since when did you become an armory?" Jack demanded, breaking cover.

"Just a precaution," Jess took over. "Safer to have protection out on the road."

"Glad as I am that you're ready to protect my sister at all times, I don't know what you're thinking is going to happen in this neighborhood," Jack was still eyeing the brothers cautiously. Jess was telling the truth. Mostly. He wasn't a cop for no reason, though. She was definitely leaving something out.

"Habit," Sam said by way of explanation, pretty much all of his focus taken up by the excited dogs all trying to crawl into his lap at the same time. The biggest dog of the pack, a blue-eyed, more charcoal colored than black, was one he didn't recognize, though. "Where'd this guy come from?"

"He's one of the pups from Gemini's litter last year," Jack explained. "No one would take him when they saw how big he was getting, plus he's what's called a blue German Shepherd. All the other puppies went to show homes, and a blue is considered a fault in showing, so he got left behind."

He had been on the K9 unit with his police department, and when his first K9 partner had been retired he'd gladly taken the department up on their offer to let him adopt the big German Shepherd. He'd wound up becoming a bit of a fanatic on the breed, and had talked Grace into letting him get two more. There had either been some sort of huge oversight, or the previous owner of the two newer dogs had outright lied because both supposedly spayed females had wound up pregnant. Each had had five pups, and even Grace's considerable patience had its limits. She'd told him in no uncertain terms that they were _not_ keeping thirteen dogs and had proceeded to find homes for all but the last puppy.

"No wonder," Dean muttered. "The damn thing's the size of a small horse."

"Why don't we take him?" Jess suggested excitedly. "He'd make an awfully good deterrent for anything out there."

"True," Jack agreed. He scowled at Sam and Dean. "And maybe you two wouldn't be so trigger-happy if you had a guard dog."

"Oh no!" Dean was putting an end to this right here, right now. "No, no, and absolutely no."

"C'mon Dean," Sam turned the big dog's face so it was looking straight at him. "Look at these eyes!"

The dog was obediently looking up at him with puppy dog eyes that would put even Sam's to shame. At least that's what Dean thought until Sam turned his own version on. Now he wasn't sure which ones were more persuasive.

"No," he repeated, steeling himself. "You know the rules, Sam. No dogs in my car."

"Pleeease?" Jess put her own puppy dog eyes on display. Dean hadn't even been aware that she had a version of the puppy dog eyes.

"I...no," okay, he was definitely weakening.

"Grace really doesn't want four dogs in the house. Especially with the baby coming so soon," Jack put his own two cents in. "He's trained and everything."

"We're on the road all the time," Dean pointed out.

"So was Sirius," Jack motioned to his old partner. "Orion is big, but he's still a Shepherd. He'll do just fine on the road as a guard dog."

"Orion?" that seemed like a weird name for a dog to him. Of course, Sirius and Gemini kind of seemed weird too. He was scared to ask what the fourth dog's name was.

"They're all named for either constellations or, in Sirius's case, a star in a constellation," Jack explained.

"Orion is based on Greek mythology," Sam added, trying to hide a smile. "In the lore, he was a giant huntsman."

"Huntsman?" Dean scowled. "So basically he's a giant dog and his name means hunter?"

"Basically," Sam snickered.

"What're the freakin' odds?" Dean mumbled.

"Good morning y'all!" Grace chirped, making her way into the kitchen, thankfully ending that conversation. She kissed Jack, hugged everyone else, and looked jealously at their cups of coffee before getting herself a bottle of water out of the fridge. She was allowed a certain amount of caffeine, but ever since the baby had decided that he (or she) wanted to play Cirque du Soleil in there, she'd cut it out almost completely. She nudged Jess none too subtly on her way past.

"What are you hiding?" Jack automatically asked. He knew both his wife and his little sister well enough to know that hadn't been an accident.

"Nothing," Jess looked up at him innocently, then she and Sam shared a smirk. "I mean, there is the little fact that Sam asked me to marry him, but..."

"About damn time!" Jack wrapped his arms around his sister.

"Okay _seriously_ what is with that reaction?" Sam wondered.

"Now I'm even happier that I'm coming to Mom and Dad's with you," Jack finally set Jess back down. "You're going to need all the support you can get. You might even want to consider calling the twins in for some extra backup."

"Way ahead of you," Jess pulled her phone out to show him the texts she'd already sent to their brothers. "I texted Josh before and he said that he and Justin both have the day off from work and they'll be there."

"Wait," Dean tilted his head to the side. "Jack? Jess? Justin? Josh? What's up with all the J names? That's a little weird."

"It's a family thing," Jess shrugged crouching back on the floor to scratch behind Orion's ears. "No one's really sure anymore when it started, but most of my cousins, aunts, and uncles have names that start with J, too."

Her slight eye roll told Dean what Jess thought of his declaration that that was 'weird'. Their lives revolved around weird. This wasn't anywhere even close to being on the weird radar as far as they were concerned.

"So when do we gear up for this siege?" Dean asked sarcastically. "The way you guys make this sound, maybe the guns aren't such a bad idea after all."

"I figure right around lunchtime should be good," Jess suggested. "And there will be no need for the guns, thank you very much. We have a perfectly good guard dog instead."

" _We_ do not have a guard dog," Dean reminded her. " _We_ do not even have a dog."

"Don't listen to him, baby," Jess cooed to the big Shepherd that was practically sitting in her lap at this point. "He'll get used to you."

"There will be no 'getting used to' it!" Dean insisted.

"He's just cranky because he knows he's not going to get his way," Sam confided in the dog.

"What am I invisible here?" Dean asked. No one answered and Dean had a really bad feeling that they'd just adopted a dog.

* * *

Sam dragged his feet as Jess ran into the big house in front of them. Dean hung back with him, way out of his comfort zone. This house was even bigger than Jack and Grace's house, which was saying something.

"Christ, how has Jess put up with the crap motel rooms that we stay in?" he wondered. "Every room in this place could probably fit at least three or four of the motel rooms we stay in."

"I honestly have no idea," Sam admitted. "I've never heard her complain, though."

"Neither have I," Dean agreed. He noticed Sam rubbing at his temples and frowned. "What's going on?"

"Relax," Sam sighed. "It's just a normal headache."

"Not still remnants of the vision, is it?" Dean was looking at him like he could determine what was going on if he just stared hard enough.

"Didn't I just say it's a normal headache?" Sam snapped. He took a deep breath. "Sorry. I shouldn't take your head off about this. I'm just...stressed lately."

"No kidding, ya bitch," Dean elbowed Sam in the ribs playfully.

"Shut up jerk," Sam shoved his brother back.

They joked and jostled their way towards the house until a scowling blonde man appeared in the front door.

"Good afternoon Samuel," he said dryly.

"How are you, sir?" Sam quickly straightened up.

Dean recognized the look on his brother's face. The look that was as disrespectful as he could manage while still pretending to be respectful. It was the look that had gotten Sam in trouble with their own father on more than one occasion. Actually, saying more than one occasion would suggest that it had only happened a handful of times, which wasn't the case at all. There was a point in time where Dean was pretty sure Sam had been permanently grounded for crap like that.

"Who's your friend?" the eldest Moore waved them into the house, obviously none too impressed with their horseplay in his driveway.

"This is my brother, Dean," Sam introduced him quickly. "Dean, this is Jess's father, Jerry Moore."

"Huh," Dean raised an eyebrow and slung an arm around Sam's shoulders. He didn't care a single bit for the way the man was glaring at his little brother.

"I'm not sure I remember Samuel or Jessica ever mentioning you, Dean," Jerry commented. "In fact, I'm not sure I remember Samuel mentioning much of anything about his family, period. I was under the impression that he didn't get along with his family."

"You could've asked him," Dean was trying to keep his voice under control. Arrogant ass was talking like Sam wasn't standing right in front of him. He'd met the man less than a minute ago and he already didn't like him.

"Dean," Sam warned.

"Just saying," Dean shrugged.

Sam pushed Dean's arm off of him and pointed further into the house before Dean could "just say" anything else. This visit was already going straight to hell and they hadn't even gotten to the difficult part yet.

Jess was sitting at the dining room table talking animatedly with Jack, Grace, a middle-aged woman, and two other blonde men. She smiled when she saw Sam and Dean and waved them over to the two empty seats next to her. The woman's face tightened a bit as they sat, but Jess's other two older brothers made up for it by getting even louder.

"Sam!"

"It's been way too long!"

"I want to hear all about your road trip!"

"How many states have you hit so far?"

"What brings you guys back to California?"

"Where are you headed next?"

Both men peppered him with questions while Dean looked on, amused. How two people as stiff and stuck up as Jess's parents had managed to raise four kids as good natured as Jess and her brothers, he had no idea.

"Whoa, whoa," Sam put his hands up, laughing. "Guys, I can only answer your questions if you let me get a word in edgewise."

"Where's the fun in that?" Jack teased.

"Now that we're all here," Jess's mom cleared her throat meaningfully.

"Yeah," one of the twins piped up. "Jess, you're killing us with the suspense here. You said once everyone was here and settled you'd spill. So...spill."

"Josh," their mother scolded lightly.

"Aw, c'mon Mom," the third brother laughed. By default, this one must be Justin, although Dean had no idea how he was supposed to tell the identical twins apart.

"Enough!" Jerry thundered. His limited patience had apparently just worn out. "Joshua, Justin, if you two can't act like civilized human beings..."

"We're done," one of the twins cut him off.

"Sorry, Dad," the other apologized.

"I just figured out why it's so easy for you to deal with us Jess," Dean commented with a smirk. "You two ever consider switching to decaf?"

"Considered it, but this is way more fun," Josh laughed.

"Jess honey, what was it you'd wanted to tell us?" Jess's mother, Julia, ignored her hyperactive sons and turned to her daughter.

"Well," Jess reached over and squeezed Sam's hand between both of hers. He gave her an encouraging smile. "It's kind of a big announcement, which is why I wanted everyone to be here. Sam and I are getting married! He proposed a few weeks ago and I said yes."

Both of the twins immediately started to congratulate them. Probably loud enough for every neighbor in a ten block radius to hear. Jack and Grace just smiled at each other, since this obviously wasn't the first time they were hearing it. To Julia's credit, she at least tried to look happy for her daughter. Jerry, on the other hand, looked ready to tell everyone exactly what he thought of that idea and feelings be damned.

"Samuel..." he started.

"Hey, Jerry buddy," Dean jumped up and grabbed Jess's father by the arm. "C'mere. I need to talk to you for a second. We'll be right back, guys."

Dean pretty much dragged the eldest Moore out of the dining room.

"You listen to me you son of a bitch," he seethed as soon as he judged they were far enough out of earshot. "Whether or not you like my brother, you could at least pretend to be happy for your daughter's sake. Jess loves him, and trust me when I say you're not gonna find another guy out there who loves her more than Sam does. I don't know what stick you have up your ass against him, but my suggestion is that you get it removed before I forcefully convince you to."

Dean took a moment to appreciate the shocked look on the man's face. He felt a little twinge of guilt at the fear lurking behind that shock though. He knew the look he was probably giving the older man right now, and he'd been told more than once how terrifying it could be to be on the receiving end of it. Still, he wasn't going to allow Jess's father to walk all over his brother, even if Sam was perfectly willing to let him.

"Now, we're going to go back in there and you're going to congratulate your daughter on her engagement," he continued. "And if I hear a single condescending word towards my brother come out of your mouth...well, take my word for it and don't let that happen."

He slapped Jerry on the shoulder and strode casually back into the dining room. Everyone was still trying to talk all at once, but Sam still managed to glare at Dean with one of his patented bitchfaces.

"What?" Dean pasted an innocent smile on his face as he dropped back into his chair.

"Did you just threaten him?" Sam demanded.

"If I did?"

"Dean...dammit," he rubbed at his forehead. "You can't just run around threatening every person who doesn't like me. Cool it with the overprotective big brother routine a little."

"He was being an ass," Dean argued.

"He's always an ass!" Sam hissed. "So are you!"

"I'm your big brother. It's my job to be an ass to you," Dean pointed out.

"Being out on the road with them must be just like being home, huh?" one of the twins asked Jess.

"Except they're way cuter than you two," Jess quipped, reaching out for Sam's hand again.

"So, Jessica," Jerry finally made his way back into the dining room and cleared his throat. "Tell me what your mother and I can do to help you plan your wedding."

"Um...I, uh, haven't really had time to make all that many plans," Jess stuttered. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Of course she knew that Dean had a way of 'getting through' to people, but she'd sort of expected her father to put up more of a fight. Whatever had been said between them a few minutes ago must have been something. "Honestly, I think we might just go to the courthouse if Sam's okay with that."

"I'm great with that," Sam said quickly. Actually, he was more than great with that. He was beyond great with that. No big, fancy to do? No having to talk to Jess's relatives and people who would question where all of his family was all night? Sign him up for the courthouse wedding.

"Are you sure, Jess honey?" Julia looked disappointed. "I was sort of hoping...well, never mind."

"Mom," Jess sighed. Now she felt bad. When she'd been a teenager, she and Mom had sat around for hours planning her future wedding. Most of the ideas had been unrealistic, over-the-top ones just to make each other laugh, but it had been fun and Jess knew her Mom had looked forward to the day they could make the real plans. "I know. It's just, a big wedding isn't something that Sam and I would both enjoy."

"Honey, if that's what you want, that's what we'll do," Sam knew he was going to regret saying that, but Jess had already given up so much for him. He wasn't taking her dream wedding away from her, too.

"I told her last night that she'd never get away with the courthouse idea," Grace finally chimed in.

"Know it all," Jess laughed.

"Good! It's settled then," Julia looked much happier now. "Jess, we still have most of the day and there's an adorable little dress shop in town. They have the most beautiful dresses on display. We should go take a look."

"Now?" Jess asked. "Mom, we don't have to rush this."

"I know, I know," Julia admitted. "But my only baby girl is getting married! Wait until you have a baby girl of your own, then you'll understand."

"Mom!" Jess squeaked. "Can we get through the wedding before you start planning my kids? Fine, as long as Sam and Dean don't need me for anything, let's go dress shopping."

"Have fun," Sam kissed her forehead.

"I have some work to do on my car anyway," Dean agreed. "She needs an oil change and I want to tune up the carburator. I think we can keep ourselves amused for a few hours."

"What kind of car?" the twins were suddenly interested again.

"Sixty-seven Impala," Dean said proudly. "She's a beauty."

"Damn!" Josh was impressed. "You know a lot about cars? I'm working on a sixty-eight Mustang fastback, but I think it's got an electrical gremlin somewhere and I can't find it for the life of me."

"I know enough. I can take a look at it if you want," Dean offered.

"Why do I have a feeling my driveway is going to become a workshop?" Jack grumbled.

"Welcome to the Winchester family," Sam couldn't help a laugh.

* * *

"I still don't like that she's unarmed," Dean said for the millionth time.

"You think I do?" Sam snapped, also for the millionth time. "There's something killing people one town over and she's out there, unarmed, with her mother and her pregnant sister-in-law. I'm freaking out right now, but she said it would be hard to hide a gun while she tries on dresses, so there's nothing we can do. Would you please shut up about it already."

"Jesus, you're cranky today," Dean muttered.

Sam scowled, but didn't deny it. He was pissy today. Between his guilt over Jim Miller, the lack of sleep, the showdown at Jess's parents house, and the headache that just wouldn't quit, he was in a foul mood. Even the bouncy, excited greeting he got from Orion as soon as he walked into Jack and Grace's house didn't do much to lift his spirits.

He dropped heavily onto the couch (quickly winding up with a lapful of Orion) and rubbed at his temples while the big dog licked his face. Was he imagining things, or was his headache getting worse? He pried his eyes open, only to slam them back shut at the pain that speared right through his head. Vaguely he felt the dog jump off of his lap and go running as he pulled himself to his feet and tried to blindly find his way to the stairs. The last thing he needed was for one of Jess's brothers to come in and see him like this. They'd freak out and one vision out in public had already been more than enough for him this week thank you very much. Of course, there was the slight issue of not being able to see. He'd come to realize that the term 'blinding pain' was quite literal and he only made it two steps before tripping over the edge of the rug and crashing to the ground.

Outside, Dean and Josh had just popped the hood on the Mustang and were chatting casually about it while Justin sat off to the side, drinking a beer. Orion came bursting out of the house, barking for all he was worth. All three men jumped, and then Dean scowled.

"What's got him all riled up?" Justin wondered.

"I thought that was pretty much his permanent state," Dean shrugged.

"No, Ri is usually pretty quiet," Josh was starting to look concerned. "I've never seen him freak out like this."

Now Dean was paying attention. As averse as he was to keeping the dog, they could have a very keen sense of the supernatural. What if whatever had killed Jim Miller was here and Orion had sensed it? Sam! Sam was alone in the house! Cursing, he bolted inside.

"Sam!" he yelled. Damn the size of this house! Where the hell was his brother? "Sammy!"

He flew into the living room and found Sam curled up on the floor. Orion immediately went over to him and started licking his face and whining.

"Gonna start calling you Lassie," Dean muttered to the dog as he dropped down next to Sam. "Sammy?"

"Dean," Sam managed to choke out. He reached out and grabbed the front of Dean's shirt right as the vision hit.

"Holy...what the hell!" Josh and Justin both skidded to a stop behind Dean.

"He'll be okay," Dean assured them. "He just has to ride it out."

"Should we be calling someone?" one of them asked.

"Jess, maybe?" the other suggested.

"No!" Dean snapped. "There's nothing she's going to be able to do, so let her enjoy some time out. Sam will come out of this on his own and when he does I'll get him upstairs."

"She's going to kill you if she finds out you're hiding something like this from her."

"She knows about the seizures," Dean half-lied. No way was he going to tell Larry and Moe over there that Sam was actually having a psychic vision, though. "I'm telling you, he'll be fine in just a minute. Come on, Sam. Snap out of this. C'mon."

"Dean!" Sam suddenly jerked back to consciousness and somehow managed to clutch even tighter to Dean's shirt than he had been. "The man! The man at Jim Miller's house last night!"

"Shush, Sammy," Dean said quickly.

"No, the guy at the Miller's house last night! He's going to..."

"Shut up, Sam!" Dean felt bad for yelling, but he didn't know how else to shut his brother up.

"Jim Miller? Wasn't that the guy who killed himself last night?" Josh asked. "It was on the news this morning. You guys were there?"

"Visiting a friend out that way," Dean lied again as he struggled to get Sam to his feet. "Alright, Sammy. Help me out a little here, kiddo. I can't carry your overgrown ass up the stairs all by myself."

"Not going upstairs," Sam insisted. "Dean please!"

He looked at Dean with wide, slightly wet eyes and it was easy enough for Dean to read what was in them. They'd been too late to save Jim Miller because they'd been too far away. This time they were right here, though. There was every chance that they could save the man from Sam's vision this time.

"Okay," Dean sighed. "Josh, sorry man but will you take a raincheck on the Mustang?"

"Yeah, no problem," Josh frowned. "What's going on here, though?"

"Something you wouldn't believe even if I told you," Dean admitted. "Look, just...don't worry about it. This is something we've been dealing with for a while. Trust me, it's better for everyone that you guys know as little as possible about this."

He didn't wait for Jess's brothers to respond. Instead he helped Sam out to the Impala and dropped him into the passenger seat. He scowled as Orion followed them out and jumped into the backseat like he belonged there, but didn't kick the big dog out. It had alerted him to the fact that Sam was having a vision, after all.

"You tear up the upholstery back there and I swear I'll turn you into glue," Dean warned.

"That's horses, Dean," Sam groaned.

"Whatever! I don't guess you know where to find this guy from your vision?" he asked hopefully.

"I saw an apartment building sign," Sam dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Oak Ridge Apartments. Dean...I don't even know this guy's name, though! What if we get there in time and I still can't save him because I don't know who he is?"

"We worry about that after we get there, Sammy," Dean reached over to swat Sam's hand away from his face. "Stop that. Digging your eyes out of your skull isn't going to help. Find me directions to this apartment building. That'll help."

It didn't take Sam long to find the address for the apartment building and Dean raced towards it. He threw the Impala into a parking spot in front of the building and they raced for the front doors which, of course, were locked.

"The buzzers," Sam pointed to the line of buttons with names next to them.

"There's a Roger Miller," Dean said a moment later. He hit the buzzer.

"Who's there?" a man's voice came through the speaker.

"Hi," Dean put on his most professional voice. "My name is Dean Wilson. I'm here to speak to you about Jim Miller's life insurance policy?"

"My brother didn't have a life insurance policy," the voice snapped. "So whoever you are, get out of here before I call the cops on you for harassment."

"No, wait!" Dean shouted. He hit the buzzer rapid-fire, but there was no answer. "Dammit!"

"Good going, Dean!" Sam said frantically. "Life insurance? Even if Jim Miller did have a life insurance policy, everyone thinks his death was a suicide! His family wouldn't get anything!"

"Well excuse me," Dean looked around and spotted the fire escape. He double-checked the number on the buzzer next to Roger Miller's name and pulled Sam along with him towards the rusty iron stairs. "Come on."

The two brothers raced up the fire escape, Dean slightly in the lead. Suddenly they heard a slam and then a thump and Sam stumbled, almost falling. He recognized those sounds.

"Sam?" Dean asked.

"It's too late," he choked out.

"We don't know that," Dean insisted. He ran up the last dozen or so steps and saw the blood and the severed head lying in the window box. He blocked the view as best as he could with his body, even though he knew Sam had already seen it all in gruesome detail in his vision.

"Oh god," Sam doubled over. Sweat poured down his face and his stomach clenched. They'd been here this time. They were _right here_ and Roger Miller had still died. What kind of sick joke was it that he was given just enough of a warning to feel like he had a chance to save these people in his visions, but not enough to actually do it? He didn't realize that he was hyperventilating until Dean's arms were around him, lowering him slowly to sit on the steps. It took him another few seconds to realize that Dean was saying something and had been for the past few moments.

"...fault, Sammy. We got here as soon as we could," Dean was babbling. "It's not like we just sat back and let it happen. We were trying. You know we can't always save everyone. We just..."

"Everyone?" Sam interrupted. "Lately I can't save anyone, let alone everyone."

"It's not your job to do it on your own," Dean reminded him. "Listen, whatever this thing is, it seems to be after the Millers. I say we head it off and go talk to Jim Miller's wife and kid now."

"And tell them what?" Sam asked miserably. "What do we say? 'We're so sorry for your loss, but guess what? We have another one to tell you about!' How are we even going to explain who we are? It's not like we can pretend to be cops."

"I'm working on it," Dean stood and pulled a rag out of his pocket. "Get back down to the car and make sure your damn dog isn't chewing the Impala to pieces. I'll get rid of our prints and be right down."

Sam hauled himself to his feet and started down the stairs obediently. His brain was whirling too fast not to. As promised, Dean was right behind him and they headed over to Jim Miller's house in silence. Dean parked in the same place as he had last night, but hesitated before getting out.

"You have no idea what to tell those people, do you?" Sam asked.

"I'm working on it," Dean repeated.

"Well don't hurt yourself," Sam quipped. "Just shut up and follow me. C'mon Ri."

The big dog happily jumped out of the Impala and trotted calmly next to Sam as he knocked on the door to the Miller's house. The woman from last night opened the door, red-eyed, but still managed to give them a small smile.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Uh, yes ma'am," Sam managed a weak smile of his own. "I'm Sam. This is my brother, Dean. We were just passing through, and this dog jumped right out in front of our car. We didn't hit him or anything. We noticed he had a collar, but no tags, so we've been cruising around the neighborhood looking for his owners. I don't suppose he might be yours? Or that you might recognize him?"

"I'm Alice Miller. I'm sorry, but I don't recognize him," the woman answered. "It's very nice of you to...Max?"

Sam and Dean turned to see Jim Miller's son just walking up the driveway. A look flitted across his face that Dean couldn't quite pin down, and then it was gone as fast as it had been there.

"I didn't know you'd gone out," Alice frowned.

"Took a walk," Max shrugged.

"Sam, Dean, this is my son, Max," Alice introduced them. "Max, these boys were nice enough to pick up a loose dog and they're looking for his owners. Do you know where he belongs?"

"No," Max answered shortly, pushing his way into the house. That look flickered across his face again and this time Dean almost got a handle on it. Honestly, if he didn't know any better, he'd say that the kid was angry with them.

"I'm sorry," Alice apologized for her son. "I'm afraid we're going through a bit of a bad time. M-my husband just died last night."

"That's awful!" Sam put on his best puppy dog look. "I'm so sorry. If it's not too rude of me to ask, how did it happen?"

"Suicide," Alice wiped at her eyes. "Just completely out of the blue. I honestly don't know what possessed him to. We were such a happy family...oh look at me. Spilling my guts to complete strangers. What you must think of me right now."

"No, no," Sam assured her. "I'm actually a psychology major over at Stanford, so I'm told I tend to be pretty easy to talk to."

"We used to live out that way," Alice sniffed. "Back when Max was a boy. We moved here just about four or five years ago."

"How come?" Dean wondered.

"Well, no offense," Alice looked at Sam guiltily. "We wanted to be a bit further away from the college students. They could tend to be a bit wild sometimes and Jim and I aren't...weren't getting any younger."

At the slip up, she had to brush more tears away.

"We're very sorry for your loss," Sam apologized. "And we're sorry for having bothered you, ma'am."

"It was no bother," she waved his apology away. "It actually felt nice to have something else to focus on for a few minutes. I hope you find the dog's owners."

"Thank you," Sam started back for the car, pulling Dean and Orion with him. He glanced at his brother. "Still think having a dog doesn't come in handy?"

"Shut up," Dean smirked. "Hey, did you notice how that Max kid was looking at us?"

"Not really," Sam shook his head.

"It was weird," Dean told him. "Almost like he was pissed at us for something."

"He did just lose his father," Sam reminded him. "That's probably all it was. So, I can probably pull up public records and find out where the Miller's used to live. It's a long shot, but maybe we can ask questions around there and see if anyone noticed anything unusual from back then."

"Better than sitting on our asses doing nothing," Dean agreed, watching Sam pull his laptop out.

* * *

"I've never in my life seen a child treated that way," the Miller's old neighbor leaned against his rake and frowned. "In the beginning I wouldn't have figured Jim for the type. He was a great guy and he doted on Max. A lot changed after the fire, though."

"Fire?" Sam and Dean asked at the same time.

"Yeah," the man answered. "Couldn't have been much more than six months after Max was born. It was a real shame. Rumor had it that Jim's wife ran into the nursery to get Max and got trapped. She didn't make it. Fire department never did figure out what started it, either."

"No, we just talked to Alice Miller not more than an hour ago," Sam told him.

"Alice? No, Alice is Jim's second wife. Max's stepmother," the neighbor explained. "She's just as bad as Jim and Roger as far as I'm concerned. She never hit Max herself, but she'd just stand there and not do a damn thing to stop it."

Sam's head was spinning. A fire when Max was six months old. Max's mother dying in his nursery. There were too many coincidences. The Miller's old neighbor was still talking and Sam realized with dismay that his headache from the vision earlier was getting worse. Then, as if just to make his life complete, the flashes of light started back up. He vaguely wondered if there was a limit to how many visions he could handle in a day before his brains all leaked out through his ears.

"That's...uh, thank you for...we should..." Sam couldn't get himself to focus enough to get a complete sentence out. He dug his hands into his eyes again.

"Sorry," Dean's arm was instantly around his shoulders. "Thank you for talking with us."

"Is he okay?" the man asked, concerned.

"He's fine," Dean assured him, not offering any more of an explanation.

He guided Sam quickly into the Impala and threw himself into the driver's seat. Sam was already going unresponsive next to him and Orion was freaking out in the backseat. Suddenly his eyes glazed over.

 _"Max, you know I never did anything."_

 _"That's right. You never did anything. You never tried to stop them. Not once!"_

 _A knife on the counter shot into the air, pointed straight at Alice Miller. She quickly backed against the wall as Max stalked a few steps towards her, the knife point stopping just inches from her face._

 _"Max...what? How are you...?"_

 _"You could've helped me, but instead you just stood there. Every. Single. Time."_

 _"Wait!"_

 _"Say hi to Dad and Uncle Roger in Hell."_

 _Max blinked and the knife plunged into Alice's eye._

"Sammy? You back with me?" Dean was carefully trying to extract his now very bruised wrist from Sam's vise-like grip.

"It's Max," Sam said weakly. "Somehow...somehow he's the one doing all of this. I saw him. He's going to kill Alice Miller. We have to get back there."

"Jesus. Could this day get any more screwed up?" Dean wondered, peeling away from the curb.

* * *

Jess frowned as she watched the Impala tear past the dress shop for the second time in half an hour. It was impossible to miss that car, and it was going way too fast for her boys to be after anything good. She thought the plan had been for Sam to rest and Dean to work on cars with Josh. Obviously something had gone wrong at some point after she'd left with Mom and Grace.

"Jess, honey?" Mom walked into the dressing room holding two more dresses and it was all Jess could do not to groan. "What about these?"

"They're beautiful, Mom," Jess said obligingly. "Listen, do you mind if I take a quick break? I forgot that I needed to ask Sam something. It'll literally only take me about two minutes."

"Alright sweetheart," a slight tightening of her features was the only thing to prove that no matter how it looked, Mom was still not completely on board with the idea of her marrying Sam. "Grace, why don't you come along with me to look at a few more dresses for Jess to try?"

Grace looked at Jess apologetically, but followed Julia out of the dressing room. Jess quickly snatched up her phone and called Sam.

"H'lo?" he slurred.

"Baby? Are you okay?" her stress level ratcheted up another few notches.

"Fine," Sam muttered. "M'fine."

"Yeah, that was convincing," Dean commented. Jess heard a scuffle and a protest and then Dean was on the phone.

"How is he really?" Jess asked.

"Not so great," Dean answered. Jess heard a sharp slap. "Ow, dude. Don't hit me upside the head. I'm just telling the truth."

"Gimme the damn phone, Dean," there was more scuffling and Jess sighed.

"Are you two done now?" she asked once things had settled down.

"Compromise," Sam grumbled. "You're on speaker now."

"So, what happened?" Jess asked. "I thought you guys were supposed to have a nice, relaxing day."

"Who says we aren't?" Dean dodged around the question.

"That unmistakable car I just saw flying past twice in the last half hour with you two oversized children in it," Jess said.

"Oh," Jess could practically see the guilty look that Dean was undoubtedly giving Sam right now. "Uh, Sam had another vision. Two, actually. Jim Miller's brother, the older guy who was there last night, is dead."

Jess's mind flashed to the conversation she and Dean had had last night about Sam and she winced. Sam was going to see that as another failure on his part.

"I seem to be connected to the son, Max," Sam explained further. "In my second vision I saw him kill his stepmother, Alice. He did it telekinetically though."

"He's got special abilities, too?" Jess darted her eyes around to make sure no one had heard that. She'd been a little louder than she'd meant to.

"And his biological mother died in a fire when he was about six months old," Dean added.

"That's too many coincidences for them to be just coincidences," Jess decided.

"Exactly what we said," Dean agreed. "We're heading back to try to stop Max now."

"Be careful," Jess warned. "If I could get there..."

"I'd still want you to stay right where you are," Sam cut her off. "He's already killed two people and he's gunning for a third. At least with monsters we know what we're dealing with. Humans are a whole different story. I'm just as happy to have you stay out of this one."

"Did you manage to forget the talk we had about being a team?" Jess asked. "Because if you did I'm happy to find another warehouse to tie you up in and we can go over it again."

"No, I didn't forget," Sam couldn't help a small smile. He knew Jess probably would make good on her promise to find another warehouse if he didn't tread very carefully. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just mean that you deserve a day out with your Mom and Grace where you don't have to worry about anything supernatural."

"Nice save," Dean teased.

"You watch it," Jess scolded. "That threat goes for you, too."

"So, uh, we're going to see what we can do about stopping Max before he can kill his stepmother," Dean said quickly.

"Call me as soon as you can?" Jess asked. "So that I know you two are okay."

"The second it's over," Sam promised. "Don't worry about us, babe."

"Right, because you two rushing towards someone who has telepathically killed two people and is getting ready to do the same to a third is something I'm not going to worry about," Jess said sarcastically.

"We're here," Dean announced. "Call you in a few minutes Jess."

"You'd better," Jess ordered, hanging up just as Mom and Grace came back in the room with - surprise, surprise - more dresses.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Sam demanded as Dean tucked a pistol into his waistband.

"I'm not going in there unarmed, Sam," Dean looked at his brother like he'd suddenly sprouted another head. "This kid is literally capable of picking up sharp objects with his mind and flinging them at our heads."

"Yeah, so what's to stop him from taking that gun from you with his abilities?" Sam pointed out.

"Right. When's the last time a _human_ was able to take a weapon from me?" Dean snorted. "A wendigo or a spirit or something, that's one thing. But a human? Come on. We don't have time to argue about this anyway. Quit bitching at me and let's go."

Sam rolled his eyes, feeling like this was apt to be a bad idea, but Dean had been right about one thing. They didn't have time to argue. Twice already he'd been too late to do anything about his visions. This second time had been infuriating because they'd literally been right outside the building as it happened. He wasn't about to let that happen again.

They'd just reached the door to the Miller's house and Sam was about to knock again when he and Dean both heard a scream from inside. Without hesitation Dean kicked the door in and they both ran into the house to see a knife floating in the air between Max and Alice Miller. Max spun to look at them, but the knife stayed poised right where it was, only a foot or two from Alice's face.

"Why the hell do you two keep showing up?" Max demanded, breaking the silence. "I saw you here last night, and then again at my uncle's apartment this afternoon. Are you stalking me?"

"No," Sam promised. "No, I swear we're not stalking you. Not intentionally, anyway. Max, do you think you could maybe put the knife down so we can talk and I can explain things a little?"

"You can explain without me putting the knife down," Max growled, as if said knife wasn't floating five feet in the air without anyone touching it.

"Right...okay," Sam had really been hoping that would work. "Listen, you obviously have abilities. Well so do I. Mine are nowhere near as powerful as yours are, but we're alike that way."

"So?" Max demanded.

"Get to the point, Sam," Dean ordered, hand stealing towards his waistband.

"Just hear me out," Sam glared at Dean, a silent warning not to do anything stupid. "These abilities are a gift. You could do so much good with them. Just stop. Don't use them for this."

"Once she's dead, then I'll stop," Max said. "Once she's dead it'll be over."

"Why does she need to die, though?" Sam asked. "I mean, she never hurt you, did she?"

"No, but she never helped me, either," Max clenched his fists and the knife floated a little closer to Alice.

"Take it easy," Dean snapped.

This time Max noticed as Dean's hand dipped towards the gun tucked into his waistband. With barely more than a twitch, Dean's gun was suddenly in Max's hand. He looked sheepishly at Sam, who glared back.

"When's the last time a human was able to take a gun from me?" Sam mocked, knowing it wasn't the time. "A wendigo or a vengeful spirit is one thing, but a _human_? Isn't that what you said?"

"Oh very funny. You're just so hilarious," Dean snapped. "Shut up, Sam."

"Both of you shut up!" Max was looking from one to the other. They were acting like he didn't have a gun pointed at them and a knife just inches in front of his stepmother's face. "I don't have anything against the two of you, but you're not leaving me with a lot of options."

"We can't just step aside and let you do this," Dean took a step forward, in front of Sam, and flinched as the gun floated up out of Max's hand so that it was level with his forehead.

"Max wait!" Sam pleaded. "Let's just...we can talk about this okay? You and I."

"She's not leaving!" Max yelled, pointing at Alice.

"Okay, I'm not saying she has to," Sam added. "Why don't we send her and Dean upstairs, though? I think if you and I sit and talk together, you might realize we have more in common than you think."

"I'm not leaving you down here with him alone, Sam," Dean growled.

"Yes you are," Sam didn't break eye contact with Max. He could tell he almost had him. "It's okay, Max. I swear. Just give me five minutes. Please?"

There was a tense second when both the knife and the gun quivered in the air. Both brothers could swear they saw the trigger of the gun tighten before it finally dropped to the floor, followed by the knife.

"Five minutes," Max gritted his teeth. "But I'm not making any promises!"

"No one's asking you to," Sam assured him. "If you still feel like this is what you need to do after we talk, we both know I can't stop you."

"Take her upstairs," Max ordered Dean.

"Goddamn it, Sam," Dean cursed under his breath, but he skirted around Max and took Alice by the arm anyway. He hesitated for a second at the bottom of the stairs, and Sam waved him away.

"Okay. You said you wanted to talk. So talk," Max dropped down into an armchair.

"Um, alright," Sam sat gently on the sofa. He hadn't really thought much beyond this point. "So, your abilities. They started up about six or seven months ago?"

"Yeah," Max agreed.

"Yeah, mine too," Sam told him. "I have visions. Sometimes I can see people who are about to die. That's how come my brother and I kept turning up around you."

"Death visions?" Max looked skeptical.

"How do you think I knew you were going to stab your stepmother through the eye?" Sam tapped his own eye. "I saw it, Max. And I saw how you killed your Dad and your uncle."

"If you saw all that, then you know why," Max's eyes started to fill with tears. "And if you know why, then you know why I had to do it."

"I know why you think you had to do it," Sam amended.

"If you have to say it that way then you don't actually understand at all," Max shook his head. "You don't understand what it's like to have your father look at you with nothing but drunken hate in his eyes."

"Or maybe I do," Sam said quietly. Truth be told, Dean probably could've stuck around for his conversation with Max, but this was the reason he hadn't wanted him to. "Your mom died in a fire in your nursery when you were six months old, right? So did mine. My Dad, brother, and I are hunting the thing that killed them. For years we had no idea what did it, though. It took a long time to figure out, and it was frustrating as hell. My Dad was a drinker, too."

"He used to beat you up, too?"

"For awhile," Sam admitted, squirming in his seat uncomfortably. It had been _years_ since anything like that had happened and yet it was still hard to talk about.

"Where was your brother for all of that, then?" Max demanded. "It sounds like he's just as bad as my stepmother for letting it happen."

"He didn't know," Sam knew he had to calm Max before he went any further down that road. "He was never there for it."

"Did you kill your old man, too?" Max asked.

"No, my Dad is still alive," Sam told him. "I got help, Max. You can too. I was embarrassed as hell to admit it, but I knew that I wasn't the only one who needed the help. I knew he needed it, too. To this day, Dean doesn't know why our Dad's best friend threatened him with a shotgun and then refused to let us out of his sight for a week, but I feel like there was more going on there than just what I told him. My Dad changed a lot after that. He still screwed up on occasion, but things did change. I saw him just a week ago and it didn't scare me at all to let him get near me and give me a hug."

"Who am I supposed to go to for help, though?" Max actually didn't sound angry, like Sam had expected. He sounded desperate, like he truly wanted to know the answer. "They're all dead. All but my stepmom, that is. It's not an actual threat anymore, but I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop!"

"I know that feeling," Sam leaned forward. "That's how I felt for a long time, but it gets better. It doesn't matter if it's a therapist or a good friend. As long as you find someone you can talk to when things get bad. Y'know, like homicidal tendencies bad."

Sam risked a joke and a half-smile, hoping he wasn't overstepping anything. Thankfully, Max choked out a laugh instead of trying to kill him, so he counted that as a definite win.

"So what do you say?" Sam pushed a little more. "Do you think we can let Dean and Alice come back down here?"

Max took a little longer to consider that. His eyes darkened, and Sam had just enough time to wonder if he'd made a really big mistake, when Max sighed and slumped in his seat. He nodded, just one slight dip of his head, but it was enough.

"Dean," Sam called up the stairs.

"What? What?!" Dean shot into the living room and immediately gave Sam a once-over with his eyes. When he was satisfied that his little brother wasn't hurt, he grabbed him by the elbow and put himself between Sam and Max.

"Jesus Christ, dude," Sam laughed. "Calm down."

"I'm not going to hurt him. Or Alice," Max added.

They'd just convinced Alice Miller to come back downstairs when the doorbell rang. She glanced nervously at Max again (they all knew it would take her a while to really start trusting him) and answered the door to find two police officers standing on her doorstep. Sam and Dean both flinched when they realized the one standing slightly in front was Jack.

"Mrs. Miller," Jack looked at her apologetically. "I'm very sorry to tell you this, but your brother-in-law Roger Miller was found dead in his apartment. It appears that it may have been some sort of an accident, but...Sam? Dean?"

"Hey Jack," Sam shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Uh, weren't you supposed to have the day off?"

"Supposed to," Jack was frowning at them. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Miller. Maybe this is something we should discuss in private."

"Yes. Thank you," Alice motioned towards the kitchen

"We were just leaving anyway," Sam mumbled, pulling Dean towards the door.

"I'll walk you out," Max offered. He stopped Sam on the porch and pulled him slightly away from Dean. "Listen, Sam I know I don't really know you all that well, but I was wondering...I don't really have anyone that I'm all that close with. If things get bad, do you think maybe I could...I mean, you sort of know what I went through, so..."

He broke off before he could finish the question. Sam pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and scribbled his number on it, then handed it to Max.

"That's my cell number," he told him. "Call me if you need to. Seriously. Any time."

"Thanks," Max shuffled his feet. "I should probably get back inside. I have a lot to make up for."

"Try not to beat yourself up too bad," Sam advised. "If you do you're probably more likely to end up right back in this situation again."

"Thanks," Max repeated.

"What was that about?" Dean asked as they walked back to the Impala and an impatient Orion.

"Max wanted to stay in contact," Sam shrugged.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Dean scowled at him. "What did he mean about you sort of knowing what he went through?"

"I have no idea," Sam lied.

"You're a terrible liar, you know that?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Bite me," Sam shot back with a grin.

"Are we really just letting him go?" Dean asked, motioning towards the house. "I mean, he killed two people."

"He did," Sam agreed. "I'm not saying that what he did was right, but he's taken more punishment for things that were never his fault than anyone deserves to. Knowing what he did, having to live with it for the rest of his life is going to be punishment enough for this."

Dean grunted, unconvinced, but followed Sam the rest of the way back to the Impala anyway.

They had made it about halfway back to Jack and Grace's house when Dean suddenly slammed on the brakes hard enough that Sam had to brace himself with a hand on the dashboard to keep from being launched through the windshield.

"What the hell, Dean?" Sam yelled.

"That son of a bitch!" Dean's eyes were angrier than Sam had ever seen them. "When Max said you understood, he was talking about Dad!"

"Come on, man," Sam groaned. "Max didn't mean..."

"Which got me thinking about all the times I'd come back from an errand or, later on, a hunt and you'd have new bruises or a black eye or even a broken bone that wasn't there when I left."

"You're reading too much into this, Dean," Sam desperately tried to think of a way to change the subject. "Crap. Listen, I forgot to call Jess."

"The phone call can wait, Sam," Dean turned to glare at his brother, not even caring that they were pretty much parked right in the middle of the road. "How long?"

"I don't know what you're..."

" _How long?!"_

"It started when I was five or six," Sam realized it was useless to keep lying. Dean had put two and two together. "Right about when I got old enough to really start being a pain in the ass. Mostly just a slap here or there until I got to be a teenager and couldn't stop running my mouth."

"Sammy, I swear to god if I hear you say one more word that makes it sound like you're blaming yourself _I'm_ gonna kick your ass," Dean warned.

"Fine," Sam sighed. "Anyway, you remember when I was sixteen and the three of us were staying with Bobby for a week? You'd gone out with him on a hunt while Dad and I stayed back to train, and when you got back I was all messed up."

"Yeah," Dean answered. "You were a mess. Broken ribs, broken arm, two black eyes. Dad said you had an accident during training and fell through the floor of that old barn. Oh. Wait, wasn't that the night that Bobby threatened Dad with the shotgun and then pretty much refused to let us leave for a while?"

"That was it," Sam nodded. "That was the worst time, and I finally told Bobby what was going on. Things got better after that. It wasn't as horrible as it sounds, anyway. It's not like it was an everyday type of thing. Just when things would get really stressful, or he'd drink too much, or I would mouth off at the wrong time."

"Sam," Dean warned.

"Let it go," Sam ordered. His phone started to ring and he groaned again when he saw the caller ID. Jess was going to kill him. "Hey, babe."

"Don't you 'hey, babe' me Samuel Jonathan Winchester! I swear to god if you don't have one hell of a good excuse as to why I had to find out from my brother that you two are still alive, you won't be!" Jess shouted loud enough for Dean to hear her. And the phone wasn't even on speaker.

"I can explain," he looked desperately at Dean. Okay, no he couldn't. "Things went better than expected with Max, but some things came up and Dean and I were talking about them. I should've called you first. I'm sorry."

"Well just as a heads up, Jack is not happy," Jess warned them. "He's got a lot of questions about why you were there, and why Roger Miller's neighbors remember seeing the Impala right around the time that he died."

"Awesome," Sam groaned. "What do you think the chances are that we can get out of here tonight without anyone noticing?"

"None whatsoever," Jess answered, and hung up.

"That could've gone worse," Dean reasoned unhelpfully.

"Could've gone better, too," Sam pointed out.

He sighed, but even though he was in trouble with the love of his life, a part of him still felt good. Better than he had in weeks, to tell the truth. He felt like he'd managed to save two lives today. Obviously he'd saved Alice by having the vision, but he was pretty sure he'd also saved Max's life. If there was one thing he'd seen proof of over and over in hunting, it was that revenge didn't make things better and the person seeking revenge usually just kept going, even after it was over. At least this way Max might have a way to start over without destroying himself in the process.

* * *

The three hunters sat huddled together on the couch while a very irate Jack paced back and forth in front of them. Hell, even Orion had curled himself into a little ball and was looking up at Jack apprehensively.

"So let me get this straight," Jack said for the third time. "Monsters and all that other stuff are actually real? You three aren't actually on a road trip, you're running around the damn country looking for these monsters so you can kill them? And you dragged my sister into it?!"

It turned out that when Roger Miller was found dead, Jack had been called in since the Miller's were technically his case. He'd gotten home just a few minutes after Sam and Dean had gotten to the house and demanded answers. They had tried every lie imaginable to avoid telling Jack the truth, but he'd shot every one of them down until there was really only one option left.

"They didn't drag me into anything," Jess argued. "A demon tried to kill me, Jack. It was kind of hard not to get involved after that."

"So that's why you two are a walking arsenal?" Jack scowled at Sam and Dean.

"Pretty much," Dean admitted. "Although this is pretty tame compared to what's in the trunk of the Impala."

"Do I even want to know?" Jack almost looked nervous.

"Not unless you want no choice but to arrest us," Jess said, thinking of the rocket launcher packed away back there.

"Jesus Christ," Jack swore, rubbing at his face. "This is really real. How the hell did I never know about this stuff before?"

"Most people don't," Sam shrugged. "Us hunters are the exceptions and we try to keep it quiet so that the majority of the population doesn't have to worry about it. I tried to get out for awhile, which is why I was at Stanford, but once you're in..."

"It tends to be a lifetime career," Dean finished for him.

"This is...this is...I don't even know what this is," Jack stammered. "Guys, I don't like this. I don't like that my baby sister is out there hunting these supernatural _things_. Any of which could tear her apart in a second."

"Believe me, if I wasn't capable Sam and Dean would've sent me straight back to Stanford," Jess insisted. "I like what I'm doing Jack. The reason I was going into medicine is because I wanted to make a difference and save people's lives. I still want to go back to school and finish my degree, but even while I'm taking time off from that, I'm still helping to save people. I'm helping to make the world a little safer every time we go after some supernatural thing, and if I can make Mom and Dad and the twins and you and Grace and that beautiful little baby you guys are about to have just the tiniest bit safer I'm going to do whatever it takes."

"Fine," Jack finally said after a minute or two of silence. "I can't argue with any of that. Although it's not really fair of you to use the arguments I came up with when I fought with Dad over becoming a cop. With a bit of a twist."

"That's what little sisters are for," Jess laughed and bounded over to her brother to hug him. "To take your arguments and use them against you."

"It's a younger sibling trait," Dean looked at Jack knowingly. "Listen, not to just tell you all this and run, but we really should think about getting out of here."

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing," Grace laughed painfully from the doorway. She was leaning against the wall, pale and holding her stomach, but looking happy at the same time. No one knew how much she had heard, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was saying.

"The baby? Now?!" Jack raced over to his wife.

"Now," Grace smiled. "So what do you say about that idea of getting out of here?"

Everyone immediately sprang into action despite the fact that Sam, Dean, and Jess had no idea what they were doing and wound up being more in the way than helpful. Dean was pretty sure this was more stressful than a few hunts he'd been on in the past, but there was something exciting about it, too. Looking over to Sam and Jess, they had similar looks on their faces, although their eyes kept meeting in a way that made Dean wonder. No time for that now, though. They had a pregnant woman to get to the hospital and a new baby to meet!

* * *

 _ **Additional Note:** Again, I'm soooo sorry for the extra long amount of time it took for this chapter and the horrible ending. I'm so bad at endings. Lol. The "Nightmares" episode has always been one that I enjoyed, but I always wished that Max had been able to be saved. I hope all of my changes didn't make it too unrealistic. I also apologize to the John fans out there. I tried not to make him seem too bad, and make it seem like he sort of managed to redeem himself, but I can't seem to help not really liking him. I also thought that having Sam and Max have that sort of connection might help to bring Max back from the edge. As far as Orion, I just really **love** animals and thought it would be interesting for Sam, Dean, and Jess to adopt a dog...so they did. :D Orion is based on the best dog I've ever owned, also a blue German Shepherd (if you get a chance to look up a picture of a blue, give it a look. They're gorgeous dogs, but it's true that in showing the blue recessive gene is considered a fault so they often get overlooked). Unfortunately my Ri is no longer with us, but he was a great dog and he's very missed and I thought he deserved a spot in here. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and I'm really sorry for how long it took to get out!_

 _So I completely forgot I was going to add two more little fun facts into my additional note. The first is that I know I made Jess's parents seem pretty harsh towards Sam, but her parents' disapproval is actually based upon my relationship with my mother-in-law from the first few years that my husband and I were together. I remember exactly what she said the first time I met her: "Really, Jason? You kept saying you weren't ready for another relationship and now all of a sudden you're jumping into one with her?" (Mind you, this was a year after he'd separated from his ex-wife and their divorce had been finalized for six months at that point). Yeah, things were pretty tense for a while. Lol. The other sorta fun fact is that my obsession with Jess's family all having J names comes from real life too. Again, it's from my husband's side, and no one knows exactly how it got started but there are so many J names you would believe it. We have Jason, Jared, Jenny, Jessie, Jeff, Justin, Jace, Julian, Janey, Jake, Josh, and pretty much any other J name you can think of. I was pretty tired by the time I posted this chapter last night, so I forgot to add those, even though they're just my little useless fun facts. :D_

 _~ Liane_


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** Hey everybody! Thank you, as always, for the support and reviews. I _love_ seeing them! So, this chapter has some really drastic timeline changes. I know I've been doing that all along to a certain extent, but you'll notice right from the beginning of this chapter that I skipped _a lot_ more than I have been in the past. The really important stuff still made it in, but there are a couple of parts where it might seem like I made huge, blatant, glaring mistakes. Stick with me through them. I promise they're not necessarily mistakes, just my attempt at accelerating things because I have some interesting plans coming up. I hope it doesn't feel too rushed. Hope y'all enjoy this chapter anyway!

* * *

 _"Dean. I need you, your brother, and Jess to get to Nebraska. A place called Harvelle's Roadhouse. The owner is a woman named Ellen. She says she has some information on the yellow-eyed demon that could help. I'll meet you there in two days."_

Dean cursed as the voicemail ended. The obedient to a fault part of him wanted to immediately jump in the Impala and tear straight for Nebraska. But another, even bigger, part of him was still trying to come to terms with what Sam had revealed to him about Dad just a few days ago. He was still cursing a blue streak under his breath as he stormed back into Jack and Grace's house.

"Dean Eric Winchester if you wake this baby..." Jess let the threat hang in the air as she rocked her brand new baby niece.

"Jess is going to be the least of your worries if you wake Jenna," Sam warned, laughing at his brother with just his eyes. He'd been similarly threatened just a few minutes ago. "Grace will have your ass herself. I think this is the first time the poor woman has gotten more than five minutes of sleep all at one time."

"And you two actually _want_ one of these?" Dean wondered, peering at the little bundle that was sleeping quietly for pretty much the first time since she'd been born.

"Jenna is not a 'one of these', Dean," Jess scolded in a whisper. "And yes, someday I do want to have kids."

Sam went slightly pale at the thought of a baby, but wisely stayed silent on the topic. It wasn't that he was against the idea of having kids at some point, but said idea terrified the hell out of him. It wasn't like he'd ever had the best example of what a functional family looked like. At least Dean had gotten four years with Mom and Dad and a normal life. He didn't even have that much. What if he made a horrible father? What if he couldn't keep a kid safe? See, that's where this line of thinking was apt to take him. No thank you. It could wait.

"What's got you all riled up anyway?" Sam changed the subject.

"Dad," Dean snarled, waving his phone around. "Forgot this out in the car and when I went to get it, I had a voicemail from him. He wants us to get to Nebraska to meet him at some place called Harvelle's Roadhouse. The owner lady supposedly has some information for us on the yellow-eyed demon."

"Okay. Still not understanding why you're pissed off," Sam grunted as Orion dropped into his lap. He paused for a second and to take stock and realized that Ri wasn't trying to tell him he had a vision coming on. He was just being the overgrown lapdog he thought he was. "I thought you'd be happy to have a lead on the demon."

"Well...I mean, yeah I am sort of," Dean paced back and forth. "Things are just kind of complicated right now."

He glanced meaningfully over in Jess's direction. Sam had made him swear to keep what had happened in the past between just the two of them. He didn't want Jess to have yet another thing to worry about that had to do with him and his past. There was more than enough to worry about right here in the present.

"You would think after so many years you two would be better liars," Jess sighed. "Or at least more subtle. Sam, do you mind packing my things up so I can bring Jenna back in by Grace? Hopefully she'll stay asleep for a little while longer."

"It's only about a day's drive from here to Nebraska and Dad said to meet him in two," Dean said. "We can wait another few hours to get on the road so Grace can sleep for a while."

He stormed up the stairs and Jess looked at Sam in confusion. This kind of reaction to one of their Dad's orders was more Sam's style than Dean's. But Dean had been acting really weird since the whole thing with Max. It was like a never-ending cycle between the two brothers. Just a few days ago she and Dean had been worried about Sam. Now she and Sam were worried about Dean. Good lord she needed a vacation.

"He's okay," Sam finally said, gently pushing Orion off of his lap and standing. "He's just being crabby. I'm gonna go get our stuff together and see if I can knock some sense into him. No way do I want to spend a whole day in the car with him all miserable like this."

"Or you could, y'know, tell me what's going on so you two don't have to hide it anymore," Jess suggested.

"We're not hiding anything, babe," Sam gave her a little half-smile and kissed her temple, then darted up the stairs before she could call him on the blatant lie.

Dean was muttering to himself, balling his things up, and sloppily jamming them into his duffel when Sam walked into his room without knocking. He stood quietly in the doorway and listened for a minute.

"I hope this Ellen lady is okay with blood on her floors because I swear to god the first thing I'm gonna do is break his nose as soon as we get there," Dean said to himself. "He's lucky that we probably need him otherwise I'd shoot his ass. Maybe once we get done with the job I still will."

"You're not gonna shoot him, so stop," Sam finally spoke up.

Dean jumped guiltily. Partially because he hadn't meant for anyone to hear what he was saying, Sam least of all. And partially because, trained hunter that he was, he should've noticed Sam standing there.

"What're you doing sneaking around?" he snapped.

"Came to see if you're okay," Sam perched on the edge of the bed and watched his brother, who couldn't seem to stop fidgeting and moving around.

"I'm fine, Sam," Dean turned back to his haphazard method of packing. "I'm the one who should be asking you that, not the other way around."

"Dude, I told you already," Sam sighed. "I forgave Dad a long time ago. I get that I've had a lot more time to come to terms with it, but if I've forgiven him don't you think you should too?"

"Whether or not you've forgiven him has nothing to do with it!" Dean tossed the last of his clothes into the bag and closed it up angrily. "My entire life he's always drilled it into me that watching out for you was my number one priority. But the whole time he was going around undermining that by hitting you and making sure I wouldn't find out. So did he want me watching out for you or not? It doesn't make sense!"

"Dude," Sam combed his fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. "I'm not necessarily saying that you shouldn't be pissed at the man. God knows I've spent half of my life pissed at him. All I'm saying is don't blow this out of proportion. It was nowhere near as bad as you're making it out to be."

"Every time, Sam," Dean snapped. " _Every_ time I would leave you alone with him, I'd come back and you'd have a new bruise, or you'd be bleeding."

"Not all of those were from him!" Sam was frustrated at Dean's obstinate refusal to see that, but at the same time he was glad they were finally having this conversation. The last few days had been tense, with both of them dancing around this and Dean being even more overprotective than usual. Hopefully this would clear the air a bit. "It's not like you didn't get your own share of cuts and bruises and concussions from training sessions that got a little out of hand."

"Yeah, but he never did it to me on purpose as far as I know," Dean argued. "Big difference there."

"Oh my god, Dean," Sam rolled his eyes. "Listen, I'm not defending what Dad did, but the man wasn't perfect. He had...okay, still has, a temper. He made mistakes. But you know I wasn't perfect, either. I was a bratty kid, a mouthy teenager, and an obnoxiously opinionated young adult. It's a wonder Dad didn't beat my head in more often."

"Keep talking like that and _I'll_ beat your head in," Dean warned. "I gotta say, I never thought I'd hear you coming to Dad's defense. Even before I knew about all of this."

"Don't expect it to last," Sam smirked. "I'm sure that within an hour of meeting up with Dad out there in Nebraska the two of us will be at each others' throats, just like usual. You good with this now?"

"No," Dean answered honestly. "I'll probably never be good with it. I might be able to restrain myself, though."

Sam groaned. Whatever the intel was that this Ellen lady had, he hoped it was something they'd have to split up for so that Dean and Dad didn't have to be in close proximity to one another. It was probably safer that way.

* * *

A day and a half later, Dean pulled the Impala up in front of a rough-looking building with a sign that proclaimed it to be the roadhouse they were looking for. Jess was passed out in the backseat with her head pillowed on Orion. She was still trying to catch up on the sleep she'd missed while she'd been helping Jack and Grace with the new baby. Sam almost felt bad shaking her shoulder to wake her up, but the sleepy blue eyes blinking up into his own hazel ones made him smile.

"We're here," he tucked a piece of hair that had come loose from her ponytail behind her ear. He motioned to the other two vehicles parked in front of the roadhouse. "Looks like Bobby's here, too."

As if on cue the surly, bearded man walked out into the parking lot, ever-present ball cap on his head. Jess's face lit up and she shot out of the car towards the older man.

"Bobby!" she threw her arms around him happily.

"How's my girl?" Bobby asked, returning the hug.

"Hey! What about us?" Dean tried to sound offended.

"You two idjits always manage to be fine," Bobby waved him away and then caught sight of Orion following Sam out of the car. His eyes glinted with barely contained laughter.

"Don't say it," Dean warned. "I know. I got guilted into it, so just..."

"How are you Bobby?" Sam greeted him. "Don't let Dean fool you. He secretly likes Ri, he just won't let on."

"I do _not_ like that mutt!" Dean claimed. "I put up with him because he's useful. Sometimes. He's pretty good at knowing when one of Sam's visions is coming on, too."

"Those still an issue?" Bobby asked. When all three younger hunters nodded he added, "Keep that quiet around here, understand? This is a hunter bar and there's enough hunters out there who don't see shades of gray when it comes to what's supernatural and what ain't. Get my meaning?"

"Yessir," they answered.

"Good. Your Daddy's inside, so go on in," Bobby ordered. "He's bustin' to know what Ellen's news is, but she wouldn't say until you boys were here. She don't fancy repeatin' herself."

To Dean's credit, he tried. He really, really tried to rein in his temper the minute he walked through the door and saw his father sitting at the bar. Too bad trying wasn't quite enough.

"Dean," Sam had a split second to see what was going to happen, but he was too slow to grab his brother.

John turned at the sound of the door opening and at Sam's soft mutter of Dean's name. He had just enough time to see Dean coming towards him and started to stand to greet his oldest when Dean let loose with a punch and made good on his promise to break his father's nose the next time he saw him.

"We don't take kindly to bar fights around here, so how about you get out?" Dean heard the sound of a shotgun being racked and felt the barrel of it poke into his back.

"Hang on Jo," John grabbed a clean rag from behind the bar and pressed it to his nose. "I'd like to have a word with my son about his reasoning behind this before I let you shoot him."

"Son?" the barrel of the shotgun was still pressed against Dean's back, but he felt it waver just a little. He took advantage of that and whipped around, taking it from the girl his Dad had called Jo in one quick move. Feisty thing that she was, she took a swing at him and he had to stumble back to avoid getting a broken nose of his own.

"Enough!" a woman's voice cracked across the room. "Joanna Beth, you get away and let John work out what needs to be worked out with his boys."

"Thanks Ellen," John winced at the pain in his nose. "Mind getting me some ice?"

"Goddamn it, Dean," Sam grabbed him by the back of his jacket and threw him towards the door. "Go cool off for a few minutes."

"I'll go with him," Jess offered. "I could use a walk after being stuck in the car for such a long time."

"Thought you said you hadn't seen your boys in a while, Johnny," the woman, Ellen, commented as she dropped a handful of ice into a clean towel and pressed that to John's nose in place of the blood-stained towel he was already holding.

"I haven't. Not for any extended amount of time anyway," he amended. "Sam?"

"Better if we talk in private," Sam glanced at Ellen. "No offense ma'am. Just a family thing."

"Trust me, I know all about Winchester's and their 'family things'," Ellen looked meaningfully at John. "Jo and I have to start setting up out here for tonight, so you boys'll have the back to yourselves for a few minutes."

"Thanks Ellen," John said.

He motioned further into the roadhouse and for once in his life Sam obediently followed directions. They passed a closed door with loud music blaring behind it and a sign that claimed a Dr. Badass was in. Sam spared it a curiously amused glance, but let his Dad lead him further down the hall.

"So?" John asked once they were alone.

"Dean found out," Sam answered. He didn't need to elaborate, John knew exactly what his youngest was talking about. "We were on a hunt and it just sort of came out. I didn't have much choice but to tell him. He's blowing it out of proportion, though."

"I'm not so sure that he is," John flinched. "Honestly, I think I'm surprised he didn't try to shoot me instead."

"That was on the table until I talked him out of it," Sam admitted. "`Course I thought I talked him out of breaking your nose too, and we see how that worked out."

"Maybe I should confiscate his guns," John mused.

"Dad, this is really serious," Sam frowned at his father's attempt at a joke. "Dean's a lot more pissed than I've seen him in a long time. More pissed than I've _ever_ seen him at you. He's not just gonna come back from this walk and suddenly be okay."

"What about your girlfriend?" John asked. "Jess didn't seem to have much of an opinion of me last time I saw her, but she seems like the type to be able to settle a situation."

"She might if she knew. And she's not my girlfriend anymore. She's my fiancee now," Sam corrected.

"Is that such a good idea?" it was John's turn to frown and Sam felt the old, familiar frustration at his father creeping back in.

"What do you mean?"

"I like Jess, don't get me wrong. She's a good girl and seems to be a fairly decent hunter for an amateur. I was just under the impression that once we get rid of the demon she was going back to school," John clarified.

"She is," Sam insisted. "What does that have to do with anything? Jess and I can still finish college as a married couple. Wait...seriously?! You thought that just because Dean dragged me back into this that I wasn't going to go back to school?"

"I thought you might have a better sense of duty than that now that you're older, yes," John spat back.

"Well newsflash for you Dad, the only reason I'm hunting is because I want to find the thing that killed Mom and went after Jess," frustration had turned into anger now. "I agreed to _one_ hunt with Dean because he was looking for your sorry ass and he thought you might've been hurt in Jericho. After that I was planning to be done, it just didn't work that way because of Jess. Once the demon's take care of I'm out. I got out once, I'm doing it again."

"That's a selfish way to be Sam," John accused. "There are people dying out there every day because there aren't nearly enough hunters in the world."

"What's selfish is forcing your sons to be something you want them to be instead of letting them live their own lives!" Sam argued. "I lived my entire life doing what you wanted me to do and being who you wanted me to be. That wasn't me, though. It's not what I want. If I can do something, help from the outside, then I will. I even want to. But as soon as this demon is taken care of I'm done with the actual hunting part. For good."

"So that's it. You're planning to just go off, back to your own little world back at school again, huh?" John shook his head. "Just gonna walk out on your family again."

"Don't you dare," Sam warned. "Dad, you were the one who told me that if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. I was happy where I was, but I jumped back into this to help look for you. If Dean and I hadn't gotten back when we did that night Jess would be dead right now!"

"I told you that if you were going you should stay gone because I didn't think you'd actually turn your back on your family, Sam!"

They were both yelling by that point, so neither of them noticed the sharp knock on the door.

"I was just going to college!" Sam shouted. "I got an almost perfect score on my SAT's and got a full ride to a really great college. Most parents are _proud_ when that happens. But not you. Instead you looked at me like I was some freak and all but disowned me. After what you put me through, can you really blame me for wanting to get away, anyway?"

"Dammit, you know that was a mistake!" John slammed his fist against the wall.

No sooner did his fist connect with the wall with a loud bang, when the door burst open. John and Sam both turned to see Dean just barely being held back by Jess. She apparently hadn't been able to stop him from kicking in the door, but right now she was the only thing standing between John and another broken bone. All the noise brought Bobby running, too. He took in the scene in front of him and sighed.

"Enough out of all you idjits," he ordered. "Git your asses out front so Ellen can fill us in on what's goin' on."

John was the first to stalk out of the room while Sam waited so there would be a little space between them. Dean rushed towards him and looked him over critically, prodding at him just in case.

"You okay, Sammy?" he finally asked.

"It's Sam, and I'm fine," Sam pushed Dean's hand away. "He's just being an ass, like usual. I told you we'd be at each others' throats within an hour."

"Well can it for now," Bobby glared, pushing Sam and Dean out towards the front of the roadhouse again and motioning for Jess to follow. "Ellen wouldn't have got us all out here if she didn't have something big."

"More like Ash has something big," Ellen corrected, motioning towards a new person sitting at the bar with a laptop in front of him.

"Damn right I do," Ash tapped at his keyboard for a second and pulled up some sort of program that meant absolutely nothing to any of the hunters in the room.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're a genius," Jo rolled her eyes. "Now will you quit showing off?"

"Fine," Ash huffed. "For those of you who don't know, John gave me copies of the research he did on the demon. It took me a while, but I compiled that research and created a computer program to track it's signs. Now, there's nothing yet but the second that yellow-eyed son of a bitch pops its head up, we'll have him."

"Ash, you better not have dragged us all here just to tell us that you have nothing," John growled.

"Nope," Ash clapped his hands together. "I was also working on that other thing you asked me about. Tracking down the Colt. Now, I had to go way back, find the earliest records I could find of it, and trace it from there. It wasn't easy. Most people think the last time it was seen was with the hunter Samuel Colt made it for, but I managed to find some vague mention of it after that."

"Wait a second. What Colt?" Sam wondered. He perched on one of the bar stools and pulled Jess back to lean against him.

"Keep going," John ignored Sam and spoke directly to Ash. "Did you find out where it ended up?"

"Dad..." Sam's arms tightened around Jess in an attempt to keep his temper.

"Not now, Sam," John ordered. "Ash?"

"Uh, yeah," Ash was looking nervously from John to Sam. "I don't have an exact location, but I know it's somewhere in Colorado. Best guess would be that a hunter has it."

"At least we have a place to start," John said. "The boys and I will start heading in that direction. Bobby, Ellen, I need you two to put together lists of hunters you know in Colorado and text them to us."

"Are you at least going to tell us what the deal is with this gun?" Dean asked, crossing his arms and leaning back against the bar in a clear indication that he wasn't going anywhere.

"I expect this kind of thing from your brother, Dean. Not you," John scolded. "Load up boys. We're leaving in five."

"Dammit, John!" Bobby tossed his hat angrily onto a table. "Would it kill you to treat these three like the adults they are? I've held my tongue for two days now listenin' to you, and I won't do it anymore."

"There's a time and a place for sitting around and explaining things," John claimed. "This isn't it. We need to move on this while the demon's out of the picture."

"Back in 1835, Samuel Colt made a special gun and thirteen bullets to go along with it for a hunter," Bobby explained, ignoring John. "Rumor has it that the hunter used six of them bullets and that the gun could kill about damn near anything with `em."

"So, like supernatural anything?" Jo asked. It was the first time she was hearing any of this, too.

"Like the demon," Jess whispered in awe.

"Oh, I'm so there," Jo jumped out of her seat. "I'm coming to Colorado with you."

"No you're not," three voices all spoke up at the same time. Bobby, John, and Ellen all looked at each other.

"You're not going anywhere Joanna Beth," Ellen ordered. "You'll leave this one to the trained hunters, you hear me?"

"Mom, I'm not a kid!" Jo yelled.

"We're just going to see if we can get a gun," Dean pointed out hopefully.

Hey, Jo was hot. He'd gladly stuff his oversized brother into the backseat with Jess and the dog if it meant he could get the little blonde woman in front of him to ride along with them. At least that's what he was thinking until he saw the look Ellen shot him. He squirmed under her glare and mumbled some sort of excuse about needing to check on the car before the drive to Colorado before darting out of the room.

"You're not going and that's final," Ellen decided. "Bobby, c'mon over here and we'll work on those lists together so that we're not doubling up on names."

"Yes ma'am," Bobby answered wisely. "Sam, you take care of that girl of yours. I expect a weddin' invitation sometime soon. I might even consider not wearing a ball cap to it."

"I'd be insulted if you didn't," Jess leaned over to kiss Bobby on one bearded cheek.

"I'll say goodbye, but I'm not kissing you!" Sam joked to cover up his feelings. His own father had criticized him for wanting to get married, but Bobby was supportive just like always. That caused all sorts of mixed feelings.

"Get out of here," Bobby swatted the back of Sam's head.

John made it out the door first and stopped dead when he saw Orion sitting calmly next to Dean, who was digging around aimlessly in the trunk. The big dog perked up and barked once when he caught sight of Sam and Jess.

"Thought we had rules about animals in the car," John growled. "Jesus Dean. I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to let it go to hell like this."

"That's funny, considering it's the cleanest looking vehicle in the lot right now," Jess commented, offhand. She ignored the look that John gave her and sighed when she contemplated getting back on the road. It felt like she'd literally just gotten out of the car five minutes ago and now she was getting back in. At least she could catch up on a bit more sleep.

* * *

"Dad says we're pulling off at the next exit," Dean hung up his phone and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. "There's a hunter a few towns over in Manning, some guy named Daniel Elkins, who Dad thinks might know something about the Colt."

"Wow, he actually said all of that in one conversation?" Sam snapped as he shifted in his seat and tried to work the kinks out of his back. Almost two straight days in the car wasn't doing him any favors. "You think it hurt for him to give you all of that information all at once?"

"Baby..." Jess leaned forward in her seat and started to put her arms around Sam.

"Stop," he jerked forward. "I'm sorry. I know I'm being an ass here, but I just...my back hurts, my head hurts, I'm starving, and being around my Dad for long periods of time always has this effect on me. Hell, being around him for short periods of time has this effect on me, too."

"That doesn't mean you need to take it out on me," Jess was cranky from too much time on the road, too. Orion whined and set his head on the back of the front seat next to Sam's shoulder.

"I didn't say that it did!" Sam insisted.

"Well it sure sounded like you were!" Jess snapped.

"I said I was sorry. You're the one keeping this going now," Sam muttered.

"Oh, that's nice," Jess sat back in her seat with a huff.

"Would you two quit with the lovers' quarrel here?" Dean asked. "Jeez, it's enough to make me never want a real relationship."

"Like you have a chance at one anyway," Sam said before he could stop himself. "Christ, I can't shut myself up today."

"Too bad," Jess mumbled under her breath.

"Enough!" Dean growled. "Seriously you're like an old married couple already and you're not even married yet!"

"I need to get out of this damn hunk of metal and stretch my legs," Sam pushed against the dashboard crankily.

"Excuse me? Hunk of metal?" now Dean's temper was up. "My baby didn't do anything to you to deserve that!"

"It's a car, Dean," Sam reminded him.

"It's more than that to him and you know it," Jess argued. "God, why are you being so argumentative right now?"

"STOP!" Dean yelled, following John's truck off the highway and into the parking lot of a small diner. "The both of you! Jesus Christ!"

"Everything okay back here?" John asked as they all piled out of the vehicles.

Sam ignored his father and stormed ahead into the diner while Jess muttered something about taking Orion for a walk. The big dog hesitated and trotted a few steps towards Sam until Jess called to him sharply and brought him in the opposite direction. Which left John and Dean standing awkwardly next to each other.

"Dean, I..." John started.

"Don't," Dean cut him off. "Dad, I don't want to hear what possible reasoning you might have had for what happened. I'll forgive you. For Sam's sake, because he asked me to. My entire life you made sure that looking out for Sammy and protecting him from anything that wanted to hurt him was my number one priority, though. Just a reminder."

"Noted," John nodded. "Let's get something to eat and get back on the road. Elkins and I didn't exactly leave things on the best of terms and it might take some...where's your brother?"

"What? He went in already," Dean pointed towards the diner. He looked closer and realized that he couldn't see Sam through any of the windows. A second look made him realize he couldn't see _anyone_ through any of the windows. "What the hell? Jess!"

Jess hadn't gone far, and she and Orion came running back as soon as Dean shouted.

"Something's wrong," Dean said, already pulling the gun from his waistband and racing for the diner. John and Jess were right on his heels.

The three hunters slammed into the diner and immediately skidded to a stop. Every last person there was dead, their throats slit. They all looked frantically around for a second.

"I don't see Sam," Jess finally said in a small voice.

"Neither do I, but if he's not here then where the hell is he?" Dean wondered.

"Dean. Jess," John had walked across the diner to the back door. He held up a hand to show them something stuck to his fingers. "Sulfur. A demon was here."

"Had to have been a pretty powerful one to get in and out this fast," Dean commented. He didn't want to think about what that must mean.

"We need to leave. Now," John ordered. "Back to the vehicles you two."

"Not without Sam," Jess argued. "We need to stay and look for him!"

"If it didn't kill him here, it most likely isn't going to just yet," John explained. "But it wouldn't have gone to the trouble to kill everyone and abduct him if it was going to keep him close by, either. We need to keep on with our mission to find the Colt."

"The Colt?" Jess snapped. "Sam is missing and you're worried about a damn _gun_?!"

"Once we have the Colt we have leverage," John sighed. Jess couldn't have sounded more like Sam right there if she'd been trying. "Once we have leverage, we can force the demon to tell us where Sam is."

"If we can even find the demon," Dean pointed out. "Dad, the trail's going to go cold if we wait too long."

"There is no trail," John argued. "The demon doesn't leave one. Wherever Sam is we're going to have to trust him to be able to either get word to us or get himself out of it. Either way the best thing we can do is find the gun so we're prepared for either contingency."

The last thing Dean wanted to do was leave and let Sam fend for himself. He knew his Dad was right, though. He put a hand gently on Jess's shoulder.

"I'll call Ash," he offered. "See if his fancy, genius computer program can give us any ideas."

"You two go then," Jess pushed Dean's hand off of her. "I'll stay here with Ri and we'll see what we can find."

"You're not staying here on your own," John frowned at her.

"You may be able to order Sam and Dean around, but I'm not one of your children," Jess snapped. "I don't have that same loyalty to you that they do, which means I'm not willing to drop everything to do as you say. My focus is Sam."

"Jess," Dean said gently. "We're gonna find him. You know he would kill us if we left you back here by yourself, though."

"You don't understand, I _need_ to find him," Jess emphasized.

"I'm probably one of the only people in the world who actually does understand," Dean reminded her. "He's my brother. We don't know that the demon's done here, though. Plus it's already come after you once. If we leave you alone, what's stopping it from coming back and finishing the job? I won't lose the both of you in the same hour, you understand me?"

"No, you don't get it," Jess tried to turn her back on Dean. "I picked a fight with him! If it hadn't been for that fight he wouldn't have gone into the diner on his own. Now he's missing and the last thing I did was argue with him!"

"Stop," Dean forced her to turn back around and pulled her in close. Jess buried her head in his chest. "All three of us were fighting over nothing. We've spent most of the last few days on the road and we were all feeling it. I'm no expert on relationships, but I do know my brother. He wouldn't let one argument get between you two. He knows that you love him. Wherever he is, he's probably more worried about you than you are about him, y'know?"

"Not possible," Jess sniffled. "Fine. I'll come with you guys to get the Colt. I can't help still feeling guilty, though. If I hadn't been so focused on fighting with him we all might've noticed that Orion was acting like he does right before one of Sam's visions. Getting whiny, trying to stay close to Sam, that kind of thing."

Dean hung his head. Jess was right about that. He'd completely ignored all the signs too.

"Visions?" John had almost made it back to his truck when he heard that. He whipped around and fixed Dean with a glare. "What the hell is this about visions?"

"You said yourself, we need to go find the gun," Dean avoided the subject. "So let's go."

"This conversation is not over," John warned.

Jess bit her tongue to keep a sharp retort back. It wasn't the time to get into yet another argument for the day. The second it was though...well, John was going to be hearing exactly what she thought of his attitude towards his children. Dean recognized Jess's "I want to tell someone off" look and smirked. His Dad was definitely going to be getting an earful and Jess might just be the one person who could take him down a couple of pegs.

* * *

"Here goes nothing," John took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the cabin tucked back in the woods.

An old man answered the door, scowled, and immediately slammed it back closed.

"That went well," Dean muttered sarcastically.

"Open the door, Daniel," John pounded on the door again.

The door flew open a second time, and this time John, Dean, and Jess found themselves staring into the barrel of a shotgun. Dean sighed. Two shotguns pulled on him in the same day. Yep, a clear sign he was working with John Winchester.

"Mr. Elkins? Sir?" Jess stepped slightly in front of Dean and John. She loved Dean, but the look on his face was an obvious indication that he wasn't going to put up with this for long. If anyone had the chance of getting them all out of this without anyone being shot, it was going to have to be her.

"Yeah," Elkins snapped. The shotgun wavered a little. Pointing a gun at John or the guy standing next to him was one thing. Judging by the size of the kid, he assumed it was one of John's boys anyway. Pointing one at some girl he'd never seen before in his life was another, though. She was starting to get the look of a hunter, but she wasn't all the way there yet.

"I'm Jess," she introduced herself. "I'm engaged to John's son, Sam."

"Let me give you some advice then," Elkins warned. "Get far, far away while you can. You look like a good girl, but you spend much time with the Winchester's and that changes in a hurry."

"Can we come in?" Jess ignored the old man's comment. She was well past the point of being able to get away, even if she'd wanted to. Which she didn't. "Please? We just have a few questions and we think you might be able to help us."

There was a minute of hesitation where Dean wasn't sure he even breathed. Finally Elkins lowered his shotgun and jerkily motioned for them to come in.

"Damn," John whispered under his breath. He'd underestimated his son's fiancee. Jess was impressive.

"Talk fast," Elkins sat down in an armchair and laid the shotgun across his lap, not willing to set it down yet with John in the house.

Jess and John sat across from him on a small couch while Dean paced the room like an antsy tiger. Jess knew better than to try to stop him. He was hiding it well, but he was scared to death for Sam. She reached out to brush his hand the next time he paced past her, which comforted them both just slightly.

"My son was kidnapped by a demon a couple miles back," John jumped right in.

"He's dead then," Elkins said bluntly. "Or possessed. Or both. None of that explains why you're here, Winchester."

"We don't think so," Jess tried not to flinch at Daniel's words. "The demon that we're pretty sure kidnapped him, it seems like it's been trying to get close to him for a long time. It killed his mother in his nursery. It came after me in our bedroom. It killed everyone but him in the diner when it kidnapped him. It seems like it's never attacked him directly though."

"That's even more worrisome than believing he's dead or possessed then," Elkins pointed out. "If it wants him that bad, you can bet it's not for anything good."

"That's exactly why we're here," Jess continued. "We heard rumor of a gun, a Colt, that can supposedly kill any supernatural thing. Last we heard, it was somewhere in Colorado, but we don't know where. We were hoping that maybe you've heard of it, or that you might know where it is?"

"I may have an idea," Elkins answered vaguely. "Why?"

"What do you mean, 'why'?" Dean stopped mid-pace. "She just told you. Sam's missing. The demon has him. The Colt can kill it. End of story. What's not to get?"

"I mean why should I tell you where it is?" Elkins asked.

Dean's hands tightened down into fists. They itched to go for his gun, but with Elkins still holding that shotgun on them, he might as well just sign all their death certificates if he did that.

"Are you really willing to let a twenty-two year old kid die just because of a falling out you and I had almost ten years ago?" John's voice was low and dangerous. "My son is missing, Daniel. He's god knows where and he could be fighting for his life right now for all we know. So why don't you stop talking in riddles and explain why you won't give us the gun? Yeah, I know you have it. That much is pretty obvious."

"Alright, yeah, I do have it," Elkins replied. "And honestly, even considering that fight you and I had, I have things set up so that if something happens to me the gun goes to you. I need to know that you understand the Colt is more important than just for revenge, though. There are only five things that it can't kill, and only a few bullets left for it."

"You know I don't have plans to waste them," John said. "One shot, one kill, one less demon in the world."

"But it's just a demon," Daniel argued. "Get it in a trap and exorcise it. You don't need the gun for that."

"It's not just a demon," Jess looked over to Dean, who nodded.

"It's not?" both John and Daniel looked at the two younger hunters.

"It is a demon, but not just a normal causing evil for evil's sake type of demon," Dean explained. "It's got some sort of plan. Our last hunt a couple of days ago had to do with another family that the demon went after. It seems like right around twenty-two, twenty-three years ago, the demon was attacking families, targeting a baby, and killing the mothers."

"Sam did some research right after that and found at least two more," Jess spoke up. "Exact same thing. There could possibly be more out there, but that's all he managed to find for now."

"So this is bigger than just revenge," Dean continued. "And it's bigger than 'just a demon'. If it went to that much trouble, and then waited twenty-plus years, I'm willing to bet that it's planning something big."

"Is Sam the only one of these kids that went missing?" Elkins asked.

Dean and Jess looked sheepishly at each other. Neither of them had even considered the thought of calling Max to see if he was still alright. Dean quickly fumbled his phone out of his pocket and moved to a corner of the room to make the call. Meanwhile, Daniel finally set his shotgun down and left the room. He came back with a wooden box, holding it reverently.

"Is that...?" John reached out for it.

"The Colt," Elkins opened the box and showed them. He pulled it slightly back before John could touch it. "I'm trusting you here, John. You didn't give me a hell of a lot of reason to back then, but I'm giving you a second chance anyway. I want it to come back here after you get rid of this demon. It was trusted to me, and I plan to make sure it's used right."

"Deal," John agreed.

Elkins snapped the lid back closed and handed the entire box to John. A minute later Dean hung up and made his way back over to them with a concerned look on his face.

"I couldn't get ahold of Max, but I got Alice," he said. "Max was in a counseling session with his therapist a couple of hours ago. The therapist was found dead just about an hour ago, throat slit, and Max is missing. Cops think Max did it, but Alice says she smelled sulfur in the office when she went to meet up with him after the session."

"We need to move on this," John stood. He nodded to Elkins. "Thank you, Daniel."

"Go figure out what this demon wants," Daniel said.

John, Dean, and Jess made their way back out to the vehicles. It was all well and good to say that they needed to move on this, but none of them had any idea where to start. John called Bobby to see if he had any ideas, while Jess and Dean sat on the hood of the Impala. Concerned as they were for Sam, neither of them could help but smile when Bobby's voice carried through the phone loud and clear, cursing John up and down for not calling him sooner.

"Better him than me," Dean whispered.

"Got that right," Jess agreed.

"Like Bobby would ever talk to you like that. He likes you way too..." Dean broke off as a blinding pain shot through his head. Orion was suddenly on alert and jumped up to put his front paws on Dean's legs and his nose in his face.

"What the hell was that?" Jess shot to her feet and put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Dean?"

"I don't know," Dean blinked hard and pushed the big dog off of him. "Headache, maybe?"

"Ri doesn't act like that for just a headache," Jess pointed out. She'd ignored the signs last time and it had gotten Sam kidnapped. She wouldn't make that mistake again.

"I'm not Sam, I don't get visi...God!" Dean just about doubled over, clamping his hands to the sides of his head. This time John noticed too.

"What's going on, Jess?" he asked. Bobby's voice cracked across the line again and he snarled into his phone. "Would you hold on, Bobby? I don't know yet! I'm trying to find out now."

"I saw Sam," Dean gasped, still doubled over. "Just for a second. He's alive."

"What else?" John demanded.

"Nothing, all I saw was..." the worst pain so far hit Dean and this time he slid off of the front of the Impala and landed in the dirt. His eyes glazed over in a way that Jess was used to seeing Sam's do by this point.

"Give him a second," she knelt next to Dean, but pushed John's hand away as he reached out for his son. "He'll come out of it. Sam always does."

"Is this a vision, like he mentioned Sam having?" John asked.

"I think so, but this is the first time Dean's ever had one," Jess frowned.

Dean came to with a groan of pain, but a triumphant look in his eyes. He wiped at his nose, which was bleeding, and let Jess and his Dad help him to his feet.

"I saw Sam again," he batted Jess's hands away from his bleeding nose. "And some bell. An old bell with a tree engraved on it. That was it, but it means we have something to go on to look for Sam."

"What Bobby?" John had almost forgotten about his friend. "You do? We're on our way."

"What?" Dean asked.

"Bobby knows where Sam is," John's eyes were lit up with a mixture of hope and revenge. "Cold Oak, South Dakota."

"Cold Oak?" Dean frowned and had to think for a second before it came to him. "Wait, isn't that the town that was so haunted that every last person abandoned it?"

"That's the one," John strode towards his truck. "It's almost eight hours from here to there. Let's make it half that."

"Yes sir," both Dean and Jess answered at the same time.

They knew where Sam was and they had the Colt. As far as they were concerned that was enough for now and god help anyone who got in their way.

* * *

 _ **Additional Note:** So I know I skipped and changed a lot in this chapter. I debated pushing Sam getting kidnapped to Cold Oak to a later chapter, but I got tired of waiting. Lol. Beginning of next chapter will go back and focus on Sam's POV after getting kidnapped and build from there. I have it partially written already and thanks to an awesome suggestion from __Mbavrocks12, I have a really cool twist on something that happens while he's there. I have some big plans for the next few chapters, so the story should get a lot more exciting again after this. Hope you all liked this chapter, even though everything got really rushed!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Hey everybody! Thank you as always for the reviews. I absolutely love seeing them! I hope I managed to respond to everyone, but if I missed anyone I apologize. NotAPerfectGeek, since I couldn't respond to your review directly, thank you so much! The wedding is probably at least a couple of chapters off, mostly because I have to find somewhere to fit it in, but I'm sort of fangirling over writing it, too. It'll wind up being it's own little chapter, so that the focus is completely on that. :-) Thanks for pointing out that John really should've noticed Jess wearing Mary's engagement ring, too. That was a flub on my part, mostly due to me forgetting what I wrote in my own story. Definitely have to smack myself upside the head for that one! Fixed it in this chapter.

The characters went and took this chapter away from me as usual, so it didn't turn out quite the way I had intended (also as usual). Certain areas got more time in this chapter than I had intended, but I think it all worked out in the end. Speaking of the end, I'd love to hear what you guys think of my idea at the end of this chapter. It's something I was actually going to use as the plot for it's own story, but I thought I'd rather put it in here rather than take on another project.

And finally, thanks again to Mbavrocks12 for the suggestion for the added scene in Cold Oak. Hope you like it!

* * *

 _Awesome job, Sam_ , he berated himself as he stormed into the little diner. _Be a little more of an ass to your brother and your fiancee next time why don't you?_

He slumped down in one of the diner booths and mumbled a thank you to the waitress who handed him a menu. There was no reason for his damn attitude back there in the car. Even with his headache and sore back considered, Jess had been right. He shouldn't have taken out his frustration on her, Dean, or the car. He sighed and made up his mind to apologize to Dean and Jess as soon as they got in here. Now if only his damn head would stop pounding. Why the hell did it hurt so bad anyway? Felt almost like one of his vision headaches, but he hadn't had one of those in a couple of days now and it didn't feel exactly right to be a warning that one was coming on. Suddenly there was a smell of sulfur so strong it made him gag, someone screamed, and everything went black.

* * *

Sam jolted awake, startled. He was lying in the dirt in what looked like the middle of nowhere. He looked at the buildings around him, which confirmed his suspicion that he had to be in the middle of nowhere. Everything looked so old, he felt like he might as well be back in the old west for god's sake. He climbed slowly to his feet and picked a direction at random to start walking.

He'd only gone a few hundred feet when he heard footsteps and plastered himself against the side of the nearest building. He reached for the gun he always kept in his waistband and cursed when his hands came up empty. Whatever had put him here had taken it. And his backup knife, he realized. And, goddamn it even his lockpick set was gone. Granted they wouldn't have done much as far as weapons go, but it would've been better than nothing. He cursed again as he realized that wherever his weapons and lockpicks had gone to, his phone had apparently followed.

Sam was just debating whether he should stand and fight or wait until he'd managed to find something to use as a weapon when Max and another guy came around the corner.

"Max!"

"Sam?" Max looked relieved. "Oh man, thank god. If anyone's going to know what the hell's going on it's you, right?"

"I wish," Sam answered. "I was at a diner in Colorado, started smelling sulfur, and then I woke up here. You guys?"

"Pretty much the same," Max said. "I was having a session with my counselor and something started to smell really bad and then lights out."

"What about you?" Sam looked to the other guy.

"Thought mine was normal until I woke up here," the guy gave him a lopsided grin. "I might've been a little...okay, a lot high. Andy Gallagher, by the way."

"Sam Winchester," he introduced himself. He recognized Andy's name from the research he'd done on other families like his and Max's.

"So, if none of us know how we got here, how do we get out?" Max wondered.

"I'm actually starting to have a suspicion about why we're here and how we got here," Sam figured they were all in this together, so he probably shouldn't keep secrets from them. "Max, you remember that talk we had about how our Mom's died? Well, there's something I didn't tell you. The thing that killed them was a demon. I'm pretty sure the demon is the reason we have these abilities, too. The reason all three of us have abilities. Or am I wrong about that, Andy?"

"I've never even met you before. How do you know that?" Andy looked up at him in awe.

"Max can move things telekinetically and I have death visions," Sam explained. "Our Mom's both died the same way, too. When I realized I wasn't the only one out there like this, I started looking for other kids like us. I found two others, and Andy you were one of them."

"Whoa, slow down. A demon?" Max asked. "There's no such thing."

"Unfortunately there is," Sam told him. "Sorry to just put that on you like that, but if I'm right I don't have time to ease you into it. I think the demon might have brought the three of us here."

A sudden bout of hysterical screaming coming from further down the street made him stop. Sam, Max, and Andy all shared a look.

"You did say you found two other names," Andy pointed out.

"Yeah, but the second name I found was someone who died early last year," Sam frowned.

"If that demon you told us about is strong enough to give us some sort of superpowers, do you think he's strong enough to bring someone back from the dead, too?" Max asked.

"Christ I hope not," Sam groaned. "Trust me, in my experience anything that comes back from the dead usually isn't friendly."

"What kind of experiences are you used to having?" Andy wondered.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you half of them," Sam muttered.

The three of them followed the sound of the screaming and came to an old barn. There was definitely a woman in there screaming and banging on the doors. A man in an Army uniform came racing around the side of another building, also drawn by the sound of the screams.

"Hang on," Sam called through the door. He acknowledged the newcomer with a nod, although he was starting to think he'd seriously missed something in his research. "Just hold on, I'm gonna get you out of there."

There was a padlock on the door and Sam wished again for his lockpick set. He sighed. Wishing wasn't going to get it back to him or get the girl out of there, so he looked around for something to break the lock with. His eyes fell on a big rock a few feet away, but he quickly discarded that idea. It would break the padlock no problem, but it was an awkward shape. He'd most likely wind up smashing his fingers right along with the lock.

"Let me," the soldier moved forward. He grasped the padlock in both hands and twisted, snapping it in half.

"Nice," Sam raised an eyebrow. He pulled the door open and a woman shot out of the barn right into his arms. "Okay. You're okay. Hey, calm down."

"Oh my god, where the hell am I?" the woman asked. She looked around at the men standing all around her and then up at Sam.

"None of us are really sure," Sam admitted. "We're working on figuring that out. I'm Sam, that's Max, and that's Andy."

"I'm Jake," the soldier introduced himself.

"Ava," the woman wiped her eyes and took a step away from Sam.

"Look, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting out of here," Jake said. "I was trying to find my way out when I heard you screaming."

"Something tells me it's not going to be all that easy," Sam told him. "Just for the record, we do all have some sort of special ability right? We all lost our mothers in house fires right around our six month birthday?"

Max and Andy both nodded, but Ava and Jake just looked confused.

"My Mom lives in Palm Beach," Ava shook her head.

"Mine's in Brooklyn with my little sister," Jake said. "I talked to her two days ago."

"That breaks pattern," Sam said mostly to himself. "Okay, what about abilities? Jake you obviously have some sort of super strength type of thing."

"I can make people do things just by telling them to," Andy offered. "I can send thoughts sometimes, too."

"I get visions of people who are about to die," Ava said.

"So do I," Sam nodded. "Listen guys, I hate to tell you this, but it's not going to be just as simple as walking out of here. Like I told Max and Andy a few minutes ago, I don't have time to ease anyone into this. We were brought here by a demon. I don't know why, but I do know that he's not going to let us leave just like that."

"Man, you're crazy," Jake took a step back.

"I wish I was," Sam said. "It's gonna get dark soon. We should find someplace to spend the night and figure this out tomorrow."

"You do what you want, I"m getting out of here," Jake turned and started walking away.

"Jake! Dammit, wait a second," Sam jogged to catch up.

"Stay away from me," Jake spun and pushed Sam away from him. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just some whackjob and I'm better off on my own."

The force of the push, with Jake's strength behind it, sent Sam stumbling back against something. He turned to look at it and cursed.

"What?" Max asked.

"I know where we are," Sam looked frantically around for Jake, who had disappeared. "Shit. We really need to stick together. Ava? Are you okay?"

"Fine," Ava was rubbing at her temples like she was getting a headache. "Just a headache."

"Alright. Everybody stay close," Sam ordered. He walked quickly down the dirt road running through the town, peeking in through doors and windows, looking for Jake.

"You said you know where we are?" Max reminded him.

"Yeah," Sam glanced at the next building. Still no Jake. "Cold Oak, South Dakota. That bell back there, the one with the tree engraved in it, that's how I knew. Cold Oak is a town that was said to be so haunted that every single person living here abandoned it."

"Great, we're back to crazy talk," Ava sighed and went back to rubbing at her temples.

"Think what you want, but I'm telling the truth," Sam said.

"What the hell?!"

The shout came from a few buildings down and Sam broke into a run. That had been Jake. He burst into what looked like it had once been a school and saw a little girl with sharp teeth and claws getting ready to charge at Jake. His eyes fell on an iron bar on the floor and he grabbed it up and swung it at the little girl just before she could plunge her claws into Jake's stomach. He raised an eyebrow at the other four people looking at him in disbelief.

"For the record, that was a demon," Sam told them. "You guys still think I'm crazy?"

"No. Now I think _I'm_ crazy," Jake blinked like that was going to change what he'd just seen.

"Ready to find someplace to ride the night out in now?"

Everyone nodded compliantly and followed Sam out of the school. As they passed the bell again, Sam had an idea.

"Hey Andy," he called the shorter man over to him. "You said you can send thoughts to people sometimes, right?"

"Yeah. I can't always do it, but I've been practicing and getting better at it," he answered. "Why?"

"Do you think you can try to get a message to someone for me? My brother and my fiancee are probably losing their minds right now," Sam didn't add his Dad to that list. Dad would probably be pissed off that he'd let himself get kidnapped in the first place. "If maybe you could somehow show him this bell, it might be enough to get them here."

"Why would you want them to come here?" Andy wondered. "I thought we were going to hide out for tonight and try to get away in the morning."

"Honestly, I don't think we're leaving without help," Sam admitted. "You saw what happened. Jake was trying to leave and a demon attacked him."

"But he was still in town," Andy pointed out. "You said this place was super haunted, so maybe..."

"Just trust me on this one," Sam put a hand on Andy's shoulder. "The demon didn't go through all the trouble of getting us here just to let us waltz right back out."

"Crap," Andy hung his head. "Okay. Um, usually it works better if I can touch something that belongs to the person I'm trying to send a thought to. You have anything of your brother's?"

"I can usually find about seven million of my fiancee's hairs all over me," Sam offered with a weak smile. "She's got this long blonde hair and it winds up pretty much everywhere."

"That'd work, but I doubt you want me using her," Andy shuffled his feet. "Sending thoughts doesn't just give me one hell of a headache. It affects the person I'm sending to, too."

That changed things in a hurry. Sam dug through his pockets, looking for something of Dean's. He didn't want to cause either of them pain, but if it had to be one or the other, Dean would understand. He found a receipt that Dean had signed on one of their stops while they'd been pushing towards the Roadhouse.

"Will this work?"

"This is your brother's signature?" Andy looked at the name on the bottom of the receipt skeptically.

"Uh, yeah," Sam fidgeted. "It's a long story. That's his writing, though."

"Can't promise anything, but I'll try," Andy offered.

He put his fingers against the signature and closed his eyes. Sam reached out quickly as Andy let one hand go to his forehead in pain. Andy's eyes opened back up and focused on him for a moment, then the bell, and then closed again. A few seconds later he huffed in pain and handed the receipt back.

"I got him," Andy said weakly. "I'm pretty sure I did, anyway. Sent him a vision of you and the bell, so hopefully he can put the rest of the pieces together."

"That's perfect Andy, thank you," Sam patted him on the back. He couldn't be completely sure that Dean would recognize the bell on sight the way he had, but Dad might and if not Bobby definitely would. One way or another, he knew his big brother would move Heaven and Hell to figure out what the vision had been and how to get to him.

* * *

"Okay, we're about as protected as we're going to get," Sam told everyone as he finished the last line of salt across the windowsill.

Jake had managed to find them an old house that looked more or less intact and Max had found big bags of salt after Sam had told them how to keep demons and spirits away with salt and iron. Max, Andy, and Ava were all huddled in the very middle of the room together, but Jake was pacing back and forth in a way that reminded him a lot of Dean when he was nervous and there was nothing he could do about it.

"What now?" Ava asked.

"Now we get some sleep," Sam let out a small laugh when they all looked at him incredulously. "I know. Being exhausted isn't going to help any of us, though. We'll sleep in shifts, just in case."

"I'll take the first one," Jake offered. "What do you think? Two hours? Sun'll definitely be up by then and we can work on getting out of here."

"Sure," Sam agreed, not bothering to remind Jake _again_ that it wasn't going to be that easy. "I'll take the second one, then Max, then Andy, and Ava you last. Everyone okay with that?"

They all nodded and Sam let himself slide to the floor with his back against the wall. He held the iron bar he'd found at the school loosely. They'd found a few more, and Jake was holding one too. He let his eyes drift closed, but just as he felt like he was going to really doze off, something made him snap back awake.

"Jake! Jake, look out!" Sam shot to his feet. The yellow-eyed demon was standing right next to Jake, his eyes flashing. How did he not see him?!

"Take it easy there, Sammy boy," the demon smirked. "He can't see me. This is all in your head."

Not that he was overly inclined to believe a demon, but Jake hadn't even acknowledged the fact that he'd stood up, let alone his yell. Either he really was dreaming or the demon was altering things so that Jake couldn't see them.

"Fine," Sam growled. "You're in my head. Get out."

"That's not very nice," the demon pouted.

"You killed my mother and tried to kill my fiancee. That wasn't very nice," Sam snapped back.

"True," the demon grinned. "Take a walk with me, tiger. If you want some answers, that is."

Sam hesitated and the demon rolled his yellow eyes.

"Nothing is going to 'get you', not while you're with me," he assured him, letting his eyes go to a normal blue. "Scout's honor."

"Go screw yourself," Sam spat at him, but followed him out of the room anyway.

The demon started walking slowly down the road, and Sam followed him quietly. He was thinking of all the ways he wanted to tear the demon limb from limb.

"I'm sure you want to know why you're here," the demon finally broke the silence. "Call it a contest of sorts."

"I'll pass, thanks."

"Not an option," the demon's eyes flashed yellow again before returning to blue. "This is an all-in, winner-takes-all, fight to the death type of contest. No early forfeits allowed."

"Convenient, considering I never asked to be a contestant," Sam said. "If that's the case, why are you talking to me?"

"Because you're my favorite, Sam," the demon stopped so he could look straight at Sam. "You're well trained, a natural leader despite the fact that you always let that irritating big brother of yours take charge. And I need a leader. So I want to give you the inside track."

"A leader?" Sam asked.

"For my demon army," the demon explained further.

"Why should I cooperate?" Sam demanded. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hold out until help comes and get all of these people out of here? I mean, you do know that Dean's on his way here as we speak, right?"

"I do," the demon nodded. "But I have a contingency plan in place for that. Trust me, there is only one way out of here."

"Then explain to me why I would lead this demon army of yours even if I do fight?" Sam crossed his arms. "You killed my mother and you almost killed my fiancee. Why would I do a damn thing to help you?"

"Ah, sweet little Jessica," the demon sighed. "She was in the way. You would've been perfectly happy to spend the rest of your life as a lawyer living in the suburbs with your wife and kids and a little house with a white picket fence. I couldn't have that. You weren't meant to have gotten back so early that night. Bad luck. I've been trying to get to her since then, but you and your brother have taught her well. I haven't been able to get near her again."

"You never will," Sam wanted to freak out at the knowledge that the demon had been trying to get at Jess again. He also wanted to take advantage of his chatty attitude right now, though. "What about my Mom? Was she 'in the way' too?"

"Partly, but that was mostly wrong place, wrong time," the demon said. "I warned her not to interrupt us and she did anyway. Her mistake."

"What?" Sam felt even more confused now than before he'd asked his question.

"It'll be easier to show you than to tell you," with no more warning than that the demon reached out and touched two fingers to Sam's forehead.

Sam suddenly found himself in a baby's nursery. The baby was kicking his feet and cooing happily up at a man standing next to the crib. The moonlight coming through the window glinted off of the man's yellow eyes.

"Is that me?" Sam asked in a whisper.

"Shh. Watch," the demon hushed him.

Sam considered telling the demon just what he thought of being shushed when a woman walked into the room.

"Oh my god," he whispered. "Mom."

"John?" Mary rubbed at her eyes, clearly still half asleep. "John, is he hungry?"

"Shh," the demon from the past shushed her the same way he had Sam. He was mostly hidden in the shadows of the room so Mary didn't realize she wasn't talking to her husband. He didn't turn either, leaving his yellow eyes hidden.

"Mom!" Sam finally found his voice.

"Easy there, Sammy," the demon said. "She can't hear you. This is just a replay. Just getting to the good part."

Sam watched in horror as the demon cut into his own wrist and let the blood drip down into baby Sam's mouth.

"I have demon blood in me?" Sam shook with rage. "What the hell did you do to me?"

Before the demon could answer, not that Sam expected him to anyway, Mary came running back into the nursery looking frantic. The demon turned to look at her and she stopped in shock as she saw his yellow eyes.

"You?" Mary gasped.

"No, no, no," Sam lurched forward as the past demon started to push Mary up the wall towards the ceiling. Dream or not he couldn't stand there and just watch this happen. He wanted to ask why his Mom had seemed to recognize the demon but first he had to do something. He grabbed for his Mom, but his hand passed right through her.

"I doubt you want to see this part," the demon from his time snapped its fingers and Sam suddenly found himself on the dirt road in Cold Oak again.

"You call that an explanation?" Sam burst out. "I have even more questions now than before! How did my Mom know you? Why the hell did you bleed into my mouth? Why would you do that? What was the point of it?"

"Hmm, I suppose maybe I could show you a little more," the demon seemed to consider for a moment. "Alright. I'm feeling unusually charitable tonight. The blood was to make you stronger than you can even imagine. Let me give you an idea of just one of the many things you'll be able to do if you do things my way."

The demon touched his fingers to Sam's forehead again and this time Sam found himself in an empty motel room. Suddenly the door burst open and he saw what had to be the future version of himself stumble into the room, kissing some dark-haired woman passionately, both of them pulling at the others' clothes. Future Sam kicked the door closed behind him and let the short woman push him down on the bed.

Sam couldn't help but take a step towards the future version of himself and the woman. He needed a better look at the both of them, because unless he was seriously mistaken, that woman obviously wasn't Jess. Who was she, then?

The woman bit her lip and smiled down at the Sam on the bed as she slowly pulled a knife out of her boot. She blinked and her eyes went jet black. Sam felt a jolt of fear, but for some reason future him didn't seem surprised in the least. They both watched as the demon woman drew the knife slowly across one of her wrists and blood welled up.

"What is she doing?" Sam was looking frantically from the yellow-eyed demon to the regular one near his future self.

He didn't have to wait for an answer from yellow eyes because it was clear what she was doing. Future Sam pulled her close and sealed his mouth around her bleeding wrist as she ran a hand through his hair. It looked...familiar between the two of them. This was obviously something they'd done before.

The door to the motel room slammed open for the second time, making Sam jump, although the future version of himself barely even twitched. Two men crowded into the room, their eyes flicking to black. Instead of going for any sort of weapon, the dark haired woman grinned at them. The future Sam didn't even look up from what he was doing. Instead he almost casually stretched a hand out and both male demons stopped dead in their tracks like they'd been frozen in place. Finally lifting his head, future Sam raised an eyebrow at them.

"Should've knocked first," he said casually.

The demon woman took a few steps away as he stood, arm still outstretched towards the two demon men. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes and suddenly black demon smoke started to pour out of the two men's mouths.

"What is he...what am _I_ doing?" Sam asked the yellow-eyed demon again.

A moment later the last of the demon smoke flowed from the men's mouths and seemed to burn into the floor as Sam clenched his fist. He and the woman quickly moved towards the two men.

"They're still alive," future Sam looked over at the woman with a smile.

"They are," the woman agreed. "You're getting better every time."

This time the yellow-eyed demon put a hand on Sam's shoulder and again he found himself on the road in Cold Oak. Sam's head was spinning. What had he just seen?

"Let me guess, you have more questions," yellow eyes sighed dramatically.

"He...I...did he just exorcise a demon with his mind?" Sam stammered.

"Quicker, more efficient, higher survival rate for the meatsuit," the yellow-eyed demon grinned. "So what if you have to drink a little demon blood to make it happen? My blood is what gave you the ability to do it in the first place."

"You don't care about humans, so why would you want me to be able to..." Sam stopped himself. It was actually pretty obvious once he really thought about it. "You want me to be able to take out any demons not on your side."

"Now you're catching on."

"Who was the girl?"

"A means to an end," yellow eyes shrugged. "You're the important part of this equation, Sam."

Sam pushed his hands through his hair. Try as he might, he couldn't see the downside of being able to exorcise demons that way. If he'd had the ability to do that when they'd gone up against Meg, he and Dean probably wouldn't have come within seconds of being torn apart by the daevas. Hell, he'd probably even be able to turn it against the yellow-eyed demon. Drinking demon blood seemed like it could be a bit of a downside, but if that's what it took was it really actually a bad thing? It sounded like the future version of himself had still been practicing, so what if exorcising demons wasn't all he could eventually do? What if, with practice, he could kill them too? There were so many thoughts swirling around his head that he was going to need time to process them.

"Uh oh. Looks like time's up," the yellow-eyed demon said suddenly. "Remember what I told you Sam. Only one of you will be allowed to leave this place alive."

"Sam!" Jake's hand on his shoulder jolted Sam awake. "Wake up. Ava's missing."

"What?" Sam jumped to his feet. "When?"

"I don't know," Jake made his way over to Max and Andy and shook them awake too. "I turned my back for a minute and when I looked back she was gone."

"Dammit," Sam swore. "Alright. One of us should stay here in case she comes back. Andy, do you mind?"

"No," Andy rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Good. Jake, Max, you two search the north side of town. I'll take the south," Sam ordered. He had to push away an uncomfortable feeling as he took charge. The demon had called him a natural leader, and that's what he seemed to be doing here. Now wasn't the time though. Now they had to find Ava.

* * *

"Anything?" Sam met up with Jake and Max after they'd gone over the town for the third time. It was a small town, but it had still taken them several hours to thoroughly check it three times.

"Nothing," Max looked as tired as Sam felt.

"Found this, though," Jake held up an old, rusty looking knife.

"Might come in handy," Sam said tiredly.

"Let's check on Andy again," Jake suggested.

Sam nodded in agreement and they trudged back to the house where they'd left Andy. Max was the first one to see it.

"Oh my god," he put a hand over his mouth.

Sam and Jake pushed in past him and saw Andy lying dead in a pool of blood in the middle of the floor.

"How could this have happened?" Jake demanded, getting in Sam's face. "You said this room was protected!"

"It was as protected as we could make it," Sam insisted. He looked around the room as he talked. "I don't know how anything could've..."

He broke off as he realized that the line of salt in front of one of the windows was broken in a straight line. There was no way something like that had been an accident.

"Someone had to have done this," he said softly.

"Yeah. Someone," Ava strolled casually around the corner, kicking the salt line that Sam had poured across the doorway and scattering it everywhere.

"Ava? Why?"

"Because I've been here for a long damn time," the timid, scared act that Ava had been putting on last night was gone. "This is a competition and so far I'm the undefeated champion. And when I'm finally done with all of you, I'll finally be allowed to leave this godforsaken place."

She put her hands to her temples, exactly the way she'd been doing when Jake had tried to walk out of town yesterday. Black smoke started to filter into the room and Sam tightened his grip on the iron bar he was holding. Ava was able to actually summon demons? He figured it wasn't all that farfetched of an idea, considering what the yellow-eyed demon had shown him about himself.

Jake barely even hesitated. He strode forward and snapped Ava's neck in one swift movement. The demon smoke immediately reversed direction and filtered back out of the room.

"Jake!" Sam reached out and pulled Max over behind him. Jake might've just saved them, but regardless of that, he'd just killed Ava without even blinking.

"She's right you know," Jake said sadly. "I'm sorry guys. The demon...he talked to me last night while the rest of you were asleep. He said that only one of us is going to be allowed to leave here. I don't want to do this, but I don't have a choice. You guys know I'm the strongest. I'll get out of here and take this thing on. I'm strong enough to kill it, I know I am. I have to be able to leave here, though."

"I don't think so," Max snarled. The iron bar he'd been holding suddenly shot through the air, aimed directly for Jake.

Jake dropped to the floor, just barely managing to duck the bar flying towards him. He had to quickly jump back to his feet to avoid the other objects that started flying towards him on their own. Sam had to duck a few of them himself, although he knew Max wasn't consciously aiming them at him.

"Max stop! Wait!" Sam yelled. "Stop! I had Andy get a message to Dean for me yesterday, so he should be here soon. The demon told me that he had a contingency plan to make sure Dean couldn't rescue us, but I think that plan of his might've been Ava and her ability to summon demons the way she was doing. All we have to do is wait a little bit more and we can all walk out of here. No one else has to die!"

"I'm not willing to take that chance," Jake lashed out before Sam could react and literally threw him right through the wall and out into the field alongside the house.

Sam groaned and tried to push himself back to his feet. He heard a cry and looked up just in time to see Jake bat away an object that Max had thrown at him, reach out, and snap Max's neck exactly like he'd done to Ava. Then he pulled the knife from his belt, turned, and strode towards where Sam was still struggling to catch his breath enough to stand.

* * *

"You didn't have to come, Bobby," John looked at his old friend as he climbed out of his truck.

"Like hell I didn't," Bobby scowled at him. "He might be your boy John, but I care about that kid just as much as you do so shut up."

"We walking the rest of the way in?" Dean interrupted, motioning towards the washed out road in front of them.

"Looks like we'll have to," John glared at it. "Even my truck won't make it through that. Dean, you and Jess grab salt guns from the trunk and then we're on the move. I've got the Colt."

The two younger hunters nodded in agreement and Dean quickly unlocked the trunk to get the shotguns. He noticed Jess's hands shaking slightly and reached over to touch her shoulder.

"We're gonna find him and he's gonna be perfectly fine," he assured her.

"I hope so," she took a deep breath.

* * *

For the first time all night something seemed to have worked out, Sam thought as he realized that he'd managed to hold onto the iron bar he'd been using even with the vicious hit he'd just taken from Jake. He tightened his right hand on it and laid still on the grass as Jake stalked closer to him. His left shoulder was either broken or dislocated and he couldn't move it. He was only going to have one chance to get the upper hand on Jake and if he messed it up he was as good as dead. The other man was just too strong.

Jake hesitated when he got to Sam's side. He considered for a second. Maybe he'd hit Sam hard enough to kill him? That would certainly make things a lot easier. Despite what it looked like, he hadn't enjoyed killing Ava or Max. It was just a matter of survival. He reached down, meaning to feel for a pulse and Sam suddenly came alive.

Sam felt it the moment that Jake leaned just far enough over to be off balance. He swung around as fast as he could with the bar and hit him with it. Jake dropped to the ground next to him, unconscious.

For a second, something cold came over Sam. The knife had dropped out of Jake's hand when he'd hit him. All he needed to do was pick it up and...

"Sam!"

"Sammy!"

The voices calling his name snapped him out of whatever the hell that had been. He sighed in relief as he limped out of the field and into the road. A cluster of shadows was coming towards him. A few steps later, he could actually see his father, Bobby, Dean, Jess, and even Orion.

"Thank god," he stumbled towards them. It was as if seeing them had brought all of the exhaustion of last night crashing down on him. Suddenly he saw the looks on their faces change from relieved to terror.

"Sam! Left!" Dean ordered, breaking into a sprint.

He and Dean had always had their own sort of code while hunting. Sometimes there just wasn't enough time for one of them to call an entire sentence to the other one, so they'd decided on one word orders. If Dean had called drop or down, it would've meant just that and Sam would've hit the ground. Calling out a direction meant he needed to jump that direction fast. That had taken a little bit of work since they were usually facing different directions when that order was called. Eventually they decided on the right or left of the person who needed to move. So Sam jerked to his left, turning instinctively as he did so to see what was coming up behind him.

Dean felt like everything was moving in slow motion. He saw Sam pull to his left just as the man who'd crept up behind him stabbed upwards with the knife he was holding. Sam cried out as the stab that had been meant to send the knife straight into his back sliced up his side instead. Four shots all rang out at the same time and suddenly Jake was on the ground.

"You stupid idiot!" Dean reached him first, skidded to a halt, and tore his jacket off to press it against the gash in Sam's side. "Did I say to turn? No! I said move! At no point did I say anything about turning and putting yourself right back in the path of that knife! What is it with you and getting yourself stabbed lately? I swear to god as soon as you're healed I'm gonna kick your ass nine ways from Sunday. Hold still dumbass."

"I'm glad to see you too, Dean," Sam managed a pained smile. Dean was no good at emotions, especially when he was scared.

"Let me see how deep that wound is," Jess pulled at Dean's hands. What she really wanted to do was cry in relief that Sam was still alive and kiss him until neither of them could breathe, but first they needed to make sure that the knife wound wasn't going to change that fact. Sam's eyes were already glazing over a little, which wasn't a good sign.

"Dammit," Dean cursed as Sam's legs unhinged and he stumbled under the weight of his "little" brother.

"Lay 'im down," Bobby ordered, quickly moving to help. He didn't like laying Sam right in the dirt, but given how covered in mud and dirt he already was, a little more wouldn't make a difference. He pulled his jacket off and motioned for John to do the same. "He's gonna go into shock either way, but better if we're ready for it before it happens."

"This isn't good, guys," Jess was done looking. She pressed Dean's jacket back to Sam's side. It was already almost soaked through. She moved back a little so Bobby could cover him with the other two. "He's losing a lot of blood really fast. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure that knife has rust all over it. He needs a hospital."

"Sioux Falls General is the closest. About an hour out," John knelt next to Sam and pushed a clump of hair out of his eyes.

"Of course it is," Dean muttered. "How much further to the next furthest one?"

"Why?" John demanded. "If Sioux Falls General is the closest one, that's the one we're taking him to."

"Well in case you happen to have forgotten when I called you a couple months back, that's where we took him last time he got stabbed," Dean growled. "We take him back there with another stab wound and I can just about guarantee one of us is getting arrested."

"Arrested is going to be the least of our worries," Jess wasn't thrilled about agreeing with John, but the man was right. "This isn't like last time. We're not going to be able to just walk him back to the vehicles."

Jess looked up at Dean, letting her eyes say what she wouldn't actually speak out loud. They'd all gotten a good look at the gash in Sam's side. It ran almost the entire length of his side and they could see the bones of his ribs prominently through it. Unless they were looking to kill him, Sam was going to need more than just the haphazard medical care they could provide for him.

Dean cursed again as John pulled his phone out to call 911, but didn't stop him. John frowned at his cell and started walking around, looking for a signal. He had to go almost all the way out to the edge of the old town, but he finally did. They heard him speaking into the phone, and after a minute he called for Jess.

"The five of us were on a hunting trip and we got turned around out in the woods," John covered the mouthpiece of his phone and quickly explained their cover story. "We stumbled into this town and some crazy AWOL soldier attacked us. We shot him, but not before he stabbed Sam. They want to know just how bad he is. I thought maybe it'd be best if they talked to you since you have the most medical experience."

Jess let a corner of her mouth twitch up in a small smile. She recognized a Winchester non-apology apology by now. John was more than capable of talking to the 911 operator and explaining Sam's injury, but he was handing it off to her instead. Finally trusting her. He walked quickly back over to where Dean and Bobby were still kneeling next to Sam while Jess took over. It only took another few minutes before Jess re-joined them.

"They're sending a medevac. It'll be here in fifteen minutes, tops," she handed John's phone back to him and started running her fingers through Sam's hair. He seemed to acknowledge that she was there, but his eyes kept drifting closed.

"Hey! You stay awake down there," Bobby ordered, tapping Sam's face.

"Tired," Sam complained.

"Doesn't matter. You keep those eyes open, boy," Bobby growled at him.

They all took turns yelling at Sam to keep him awake. They were just starting to hear the sound of a helicopter in the distance when his eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.

* * *

Sam slowly blinked awake. He was lying partially propped up in some sort of uncomfortable bed and his side itched like crazy. Actually, it felt like it should hurt, but he was too hopped up on painkillers to feel it.

The first thing he noticed was a regular beeping sound, which he only associated with one place. Great. He was in a hospital. He tried to bring his hand up to rub at his eyes, and frowned when it jerked to a stop. Blinking hard to try and clear his eyes, he scowled down to where his wrist was handcuffed to the bed rail.

"Sam?" a voice came from his other side and he turned to see who it was. A severe-looking man was sitting in a chair next to his bed. "Good to see you awake."

"Who are you?" Sam mumbled.

"Special Agent Victor Henrickson," the man introduced himself. "You know where you are?"

"Hospital," Sam snapped. "How long?"

"Two days," the FBI agent told him. His voice was polite enough, but Sam could hear the barely-concealed coldness underneath.

"Tell me, Special Agent Victor Henrickson," he forced his foggy brain to clear enough to speak in full sentences and rattled the handcuff. "Is it normal for the FBI to chain injured people to their hospital beds when they have no idea what they've done?"

"It's like that, is it?" Henrickson smirked.

"I don't know," Sam sassed. "You're the one who arrested an unconscious guy. Where's the rest of my family?"

"County lockup," Henrickson explained. "None of them seem to want to explain what they were doing in an abandoned town that's suddenly chock full of dead people. Dead people who just so happen to be missing persons reported all at the same time. You want to fill in the blanks?"

Sam shrugged and looked away from the agent. He had a vague idea of the excuse that they might've used, but he didn't want to risk saying anything and contradicting something they'd said. This Henrickson seemed like the type to analyze every single detail and use anything that didn't match up exactly to his benefit.

"Let me see if I can jog any memories loose then," Henrickson turned to his notes. "We have one dead soldier, who went AWOL from his post in Afghanistan a couple of days ago, with four bullet holes in him. One man and one woman with necks snapped clean in half. One man literally torn to shreds. And you. Now the only guns we found were on your father, brother, uncle, and fiancee and your fingerprints were all over the knife we suspect was used to stab you. Covering your tracks?"

"Shouldn't I have a lawyer present?" instead of answering the question, Sam glared at the man. "Or at least have my rights read to me?"

"I don't know, should you?" Henrickson asked. "I thought we were just talking."

"You always handcuff people to 'just talk' to them?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "I mean hey, if that's your thing then I'm not one to judge, but I don't swing that way."

"A precaution," Henrickson shrugged, ignoring the dig. He'd heard a similar one from the other brother.

"Then I want a lawyer. As a precaution," Sam shot back.

As if on cue, a man with a briefcase wearing an expensive looking suit strolled in through the door.

"Special Agent Henrickson?" he asked. "Bill Gordan. I sincerely hope I didn't just hear that correctly. You weren't actually trying to interrogate my client without reading him his rights, were you?"

"Not at all," the FBI agent said. "Now that you're here though..."

"Now that I'm here I'd like a moment alone with Sam," the lawyer interrupted. "Without him being handcuffed to the bed, thank you very much. As far as we know, he was a victim just like any of the others found out there at Cold Oak."

Sam could literally _see_ Henrickson's blood pressure climb with every smug word the lawyer said to him. He unlocked the handcuffs with jerky movements and left the room, muttering something under his breath about lawyers and vultures and the similarity between the two.

"Well, now that that's take care of," the lawyer held his hand out to Sam. "Call me Bill."

"Thanks for bailing me out there," Sam reached out to take the man's hand and yelped as it pulled at his wound, which had been relatively quiet up to that point. "Jesus. Ow. Anyway, like I said, thanks for bailing me out and please don't take offense but..."

"But why am I here?" Bill laughed. "Apparently you have some friends in high places, son. I got a call from a judge friend of mine two nights ago. Said he had a friend who'd called asking for some legal help and that it was the least he could do for her after what she'd done for him awhile back. I gotta tell you, this is one hell of a case, but the rest of your family should be released from county by the end of the day today unless the feds can actually come up with something solid to charge them with."

"Jess knows a judge?" Sam tried to think of when Jess might have met a judge, let alone an influential one, and become friends with him.

"Judge Stalter," Bill told him. "He said he met your fiancee, brother, and uncle right here in the hospital the last time you were here. For another stab wound? You seem to have some bad luck, huh?"

"I guess so," Sam rubbed absently at his side. He'd been pretty high on pain meds that time, so he figured pretty much anything was possible. "What are the odds of the FBI actually letting all of us go free, though?"

"Slim," Bill answered honestly. "Now, your family's stories all match up to the letter which is obviously a good thing, but the five of you _were_ found in a fairly compromising situation. Three missing persons and and AWOL soldier all found dead pretty much at all of your feet. It's not something the FBI is going to just let slide."

"Do they have anything they can actually make stick, or is it all circumstantial?" Sam asked.

"Most of it is circumstantial," Bill said. "They do have one piece of very real evidence, though. Now, the stories your family told all match to the letter, which is obviously a good thing. They claim that the five of you were out hunting and got turned around in the woods. You all stumbled upon the abandoned town, you were attacked by Private Talley, and they shot him in self-defense."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. That was what he'd assumed they'd told the police. "So where's the problem?"

"The problem are your fingerprints found on items in a room with three dead people," Bill admitted. "I'm on your side here Sam, but I need to know the truth. What were you doing in that room?"

Sam cursed to himself and scrambled to come up with an excuse. He thought of a thin one and grasped onto it for all he was worth.

"We did just happen to stumble into the town, but it wasn't like everything happened all at once," he thought fast. "We'd been wandering around all night, and we were tired. We figured the town was as good a place as any to get a couple hours of sleep and then we could start trying to find our way back to our vehicles once it was light out. I walked into the room and saw the three of them and I thought maybe I could do something to help. Jake found me and we fought, and we wound up back out on the road."

It sounded like a good excuse to him. He'd buy it. Hell, it had looked like Bill was buying it up until just a second ago. What had changed?

"Sam..." he hesitated. "You realize I'm trying to help you here, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Then why are you lying to me?"

 _Shit_ , Sam thought. He'd gone wrong somewhere, but where.

"I'm not lying," he lied again. "Why do you think I'm lying?"

"How did you know Private Talley's first name?" Bill asked gently. "I never told it to you, Sam."

"Y-yes you did," he stammered. "You must've. Otherwise how would I have known it?"

"That's the question I just asked you," Bill reminded him. "Whatever's going on here, I need to know to be able to help you."

For a split second Sam was so frustrated with himself that he actually considered telling the man the truth. He'd had the perfect excuse and one little slip up had brought it all crashing down. Dean wouldn't have made a mistake like that.

"Were you and Jake mixed up together?" Bill guessed. "Maybe you two thought to kidnap the other three and hold them for ransom and then Jake started getting out of control? Started killing them? Attacked you when you tried to stop him?"

"No!" Sam shook his head quickly. "Nothing like that."

"Were you one of the victims, then?" Bill pressed. He hadn't really believed that Sam had been associated with Jake to begin with. The kid in front of him didn't look like the type for that, but he'd had to ask. Still, Sam was obviously hiding something.

"One of the victims?" Sam repeated. There was an idea. "Yes! Max and I were together when Jake got ahold of us. You can even ask Max's stepmother, she'll tell you we were there just a couple of days ago. I guess I was embarrassed to say so. I managed to get a message to my brother, and he got the rest of them together to come after us."

"Okay," Bill still didn't believe Sam. The boy had jumped far too easily at the excuse he'd provided, but he wasn't going to delve any deeper into it. There was just something that nibbled at the back of his mind, telling him to leave it at that and let the rest alone. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, though. Don't worry, I'll get this all straightened out."

"I tried to help them," Sam didn't have to pretend to be upset about that. "I really did."

"I'm sure you did everything you could," Bill assured him. The pain on Sam's face was real. "I have a few more questions and then I'm going to take this to the judge and see what I can do about getting the FBI off your backs. Are you up for talking a bit more?"

Sam nodded and sighed as Bill started to pepper him with questions. The one thing he knew absolutely for sure was that even if Bill and Jess's judge friend managed to get them off the hook, they would have to be more careful than ever. Sure, they'd had their share of run-in's with the law over the years, but the FBI? This was serious even for them.

* * *

"Don't think I've forgotten about my threat to kick your ass once you're better, bitch."

"I'd like to see you try, jerk," Sam was smiling before he'd even fully opened his eyes.

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Jess warned. "Samuel Winchester if you ever scare me like that again I promise you I won't wait for your brother to do it. _I'll_ kick your ass."

"Yes ma'am," Sam sassed her.

"Boy, you are either a lot braver or a lot dumber than I gave you credit for," Bobby shook his head at his adopted nephew.

"I know which one I'd pick," Dean offered cheerfully.

"So, considering the fact that you're all here harassing me, I'd say Bill managed to get Henrickson off our backs?" Sam reached out for Jess's hand.

"For now," John amended. "I doubt we've seen the last of him. So, since when are we friends with judge's anyway?"

"Since the last time Sam was in the hospital," Jess sat on the edge of the hospital bed on Sam's good side. "He and his wife had been in a car accident and she wasn't doing well. Doctors kept telling him that she might not make it, but I wouldn't let him believe it. She wound up being okay, and the judge tracked us down to Sam's room and said to call if we ever needed anything. I figured this qualified."

"I don't remember that," Sam frowned.

"Sammy, you were lucky you remembered your own name that night," Dean laughed. His eyes lit up. "Which reminds me! Dad, you have to see this. They had him all hopped up on painkillers and I totally got him singing karaoke!"

"Hold on a second!" Sam yelped. "I distinctly remember deleting that video."

"Right, like I'd have blackmail of that magnitude on you and _not_ make backup copies," Dean shook his head as he gleefully pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket.

Before he could do anything more, he frowned at his phone. There were nine missed calls and voicemails, all from a number he didn't recognize. He retrieved the first voicemail and heard Ash's voice.

 _Dean-o. Been trying to get ahold of your Dad for a couple of days now, and I can't seem to get in touch with him. Call me back._

 _Dean, Ash here. Got something you guys need to know. Call me._

 _Dean! Seriously, where are you guys?_

The rest of the messages were on a similar tangent. He looked up at his Dad and motioned for him to check his own phone. Sure enough, John's eyes widened when he saw the number of missed calls and voicemails on his too. Rather than listen to all of them, he immediately called Ash and put it on speaker

"Finally!" Ash answered on the first ring. "I've been trying get you on the phone for two days!"

"We were a little tied up," John replied. "What do you have Ash?"

"Is that John?" Ellen's voice in the background. There was a scuffle and suddenly Ellen was on the phone. "Are you all allergic to giving me peace of mind? First you call saying Sam's kidnapped by a demon, then say you know where he is, and then _nothing_ from you for two days?!"

"Sorry Ellen," John looked sheepish. "We do have a good excuse though."

"It better be," Ellen warned.

"We were in jail."

""Jail?!" Sam winced as Ellen's voice cracked over the line. Personally, he wouldn't have put it so bluntly, but that was his Dad for you.

"Everything's worked out for now," John assured her. "Put Ash back on. It sounded like he might have something big."

"Not just big," Ash corrected. "I'm pretty sure I know where the demon's planning on being next. Wyoming. There are demonic omens popping up like jack-in-the-boxes, and they're all circling this one specific area. Now, I can't tell exactly why or what they're circling, but this kind of demon activity? It's something big. Worth a look at least."

"Good work Ash," John growled, hanging up. He looked over to Sam. "Sammy, can you walk?"

"Um, I don't know. Maybe?" Sam shrugged. "I haven't exactly tried yet."

"Jess, take a look at him and make sure he'll be okay to leave," John ordered. "I'll get my hands on some antibiotics."

"Dad, slow down," Dean reached out to stop him. "Ash said it himself, we don't know what to expect."

"That's why we're moving on this now," John explained impatiently. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can scout it and find out what the demon's plan is. Jess? What're you waiting on?"

That was the final straw. Jess had held onto her temper with John for more than long enough as far as she was concerned. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she gently let go of Sam's hand and got to her feet. Sam cringed back against the pillows propping him up, Bobby reached up to fiddle with his hat, and Dean just leaned back against the wall with an amused glance to watch the show. John had just enough time to take in all three of their reactions before the explosion happened.

"I'm waiting on you to realize that your son almost _died_ out there two nights ago!" Jess yelled. "I'm waiting on you to start treating both of your sons like they're actually your children and not soldiers for you to order here and there and everywhere! I'm waiting on you to open your damned eyes and see what amazing people they've become and maybe even pretend like you care about them even half as much as you do about the demon!" She stalked forward and put her finger right in John's face. "Sam and Dean are two of the most incredible people in the entire world, and you're so wrapped up in your own stupid thoughts of revenge that you can't even see it. All you do is order them around, move them like pawns on your own personal little chessboard, and maybe throw them a bone every now and again when it suits your purposes. Well I'm done standing idly by and watching it."

"Enough," John tried to sound stern, but was pretty sure he failed. Miserably.

"You're right, it is enough," Jess seethed. "But not from me. If no one else is going to stand up and say all of this to your face then I'll be the bad guy. You don't deserve the loyalty that they have for you _._ You may be the only person in this room who actually knew Mary, but I can just about guarantee that she would be ashamed of the way you've treated her boys. Take it from someone who almost died the exact same way as she did. Revenge isn't worth throwing their lives away. Or yours."

John had to stuff his hands in his pockets to hide the fact that they'd picked up a tremble. The girl standing in front of him reminded him so much of Mary in that moment. The times she'd stood the same way with her finger in his face, telling him off for one stupid thing or another. The blonde hair in a messy ponytail, the blue eyes full of fire, it was like deaj vu. He focused on Jess's hand to keep from having to see any more painful similarities and realized that didn't help either. Because right there on her finger was the engagement ring he'd proposed to Mary with all those years ago. This time he had to blink hard at the tears that wanted to spring up. Sam hadn't even known that he'd kept Mary's rings which meant that Dean...

"I'm sorry to put it so harshly, but harsh seems to be the only thing that works with all three of you mule-headed Winchesters," Jess softened her tone a little now that she saw she'd gotten through to John. "Now honestly, I think we do need to start making our way to Wyoming to find out what the demon is planning. I don't like the timing of it. I don't like that Sam's hurt. But we can't just sit back and let him do whatever it is that he's going to do. If we're really finally going after it, we're going after it as a team though."

"We're stronger that way Dad," Dean finally spoke up. "You know we are."

John nodded, but didn't trust himself to speak just yet. Every single last thing Jess had just said to him was true. He left Sam's hospital room to see what he could do about finding some antibiotics to swipe to bring with them so that Sam's wound wouldn't get infected. Once he was sure his boy was taken care of, then he would focus on Wyoming. From now on family came first, though. He was sorry this was what it took to make him see that, but at least it was now firmly in his head and it was there to stay.

* * *

"I think I found something," Sam announced when they stopped at a truck stop about fifty miles outside of Wyoming. For once he'd been the one in the backseat while Jess rode up front because the back gave him more room to stretch out. Even with Orion trying to crawl into his lap every thirty seconds.

It turned out that he'd been dropped in a kennel when Dean and Jess and the rest of them had been arrested. The big dog had been absolutely beside himself when they'd gone to retrieve him after sneaking Sam out of the hospital.

"What is it?" Bobby had opted to ride with John rather than having a three-vehicle convoy all the way over to Wyoming.

"Well Ash said the demons are all circling around this one particular area, right?" Sam laid the map down on the table and they all crowded around it. He'd drawn a circle, indicating what he'd just said. "I've been going over and over this, trying to figure out what we might be looking for in that circle and why demons are surrounding it. For awhile I couldn't figure it out. Just a bunch of old graveyards. Then I realized there was something more."

He pulled a pen out and connected a series of x's that he'd marked on the map. The connected marks, in conjunction with the circle around it made a perfect...

"Is that a devil's trap?" Jess asked quietly.

"Damn right it is," Sam looked proud of himself. "Each of these marks is a railroad station. The lines are the rails, which all just happen to connect like this. I did some research once I started to see this and, wouldn't you know, these railroad stations were all built by Samuel Colt."

"Sounds like he was protecting something in the middle of this devil's trap he created then," John mused.

"Makes sense why the demons are circling it then," Dean pointed out. "They can't get in."

"I'll bet that's why he brought you all to Cold Oak, too," Jess added. "He can't get in either. If there's something in there that he wants, he'd need a human to go in for him and get it."

"I bet it was," Sam shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

He had decided not to tell anyone about what the demon had shown him. Jess would probably stick with him on the whole "demon blood as a baby" thing, but she _definitely_ wouldn't understand the second part of what he'd seen. His Dad, Dean, and Bobby on the other hand...he didn't think they'd understand either one. No, better to keep it to himself until he could get a handle on what this was. If he could figure out how to get even a fraction of the control over it as he'd had in the future vision, then he'd tell them. Until then he'd keep it to himself and work towards that, wait until he could show them that maybe it wasn't necessarily all a bad thing.

"Is that hurting again?" Jess mistook Sam's squirming for pain.

"Uncomfortable," Sam lied. It was a good bit higher up the pain scale than uncomfortable, but that was just another thing he'd keep to himself until later.

"Liar," Dean called him out on it. "Oh, come on. I've helped raise you since you were six months old. You think I don't know when you're lying about something?"

"Shut up," Sam mumbled.

"Enough for now, boys," John stopped them before it could go any further. He pointed back to the map. "Sam, what's right dead center of this trap?"

"Just an old cowboy cemetery as far as I can tell," Sam answered. "Doesn't look like anything special."

"Since when is anything what it looks like where we're concerned?" Bobby pointed out. "That's where we should head first. See what we see."

"Good a plan as any," John agreed. "Let's eat an move out. It'll take us less than an hour to get there once we're back on the road."

* * *

They rolled as quietly as they could up to a spot near the old cemetery and climbed out of the vehicles. Sam moved towards the back of the Impala and waited for Dean to unlock the trunk so he could get a weapon. It only took a second before he realized it was taking too long. He turned and saw all four of the others looking at him guiltily.

"What?" he asked.

"Sam..." John sighed. "You're on the bench for this one."

"The hell I am!" he looked to Dean and Jess for help, but they both studiously avoided his gaze. "Oh come on! What happened to doing this as a team?"

"The plan was always for you to stay back in the car, Sammy," Dean admitted. "Even before we knew what we might be looking for. You're hurt and we're literally walking right into whatever the demon's got planned. He's already proved that he wants you for something, so there's no point in making it any easier for that to happen."

"You have seriously got to be kidding me," Sam snapped.

"We're not," even Jess was on their side on this one. "Honey, even if you weren't hurt, it would be stupid to just walk right in there. We'd practically be handing you to the demon."

"This is...this is..." Sam didn't quite know what it was. Logically they were right. He was hurt, meaning he'd slow them down. If they had to retreat in a hurry, he would definitely be a hindrance. Logic wasn't playing a huge part in what he felt at the moment, though. He didn't want to be left behind to sit in the car like he'd had to as a kid. And if something happened to any of them when he could've been there to do something about it...

"It sucks," Jess agreed without him having to actually say it. She moved closer and put her arms around him. "And I know you're mad at us now, but please don't stay mad for too long?"

"I'm not angry," Sam sighed after a minute. He put his arms around Jess too. "Upset, yeah. Irritated, sure. But not mad. Just promise me that if anything, and I mean _anything_ at all goes sideways, you four get your asses back here."

"Anything goes sideways, Jess and I will drag Dean and your Daddy right out of there," Bobby promised. He shrugged when John and Dean shot him dirty looks. "What? She and I ain't Winchester's, which means we're nowhere near as hard headed as the two of you. Come on. Best get movin'."

Sam watched them load up and go with an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not one that was caused by the knife wound, either. Orion looked up and him and whined his displeasure as well.

"I know buddy," he patted the big dog's head. "I don't like it either, but they'll be okay. They'd better be."

* * *

"There's nothing here," Dean complained after their second circuit of the cemetery. "Are we sure we're in the right place?"

"No," Bobby answered honestly. They'd all met back up at a big crypt right in the middle of the graveyard. "This was just our best guess."

"What's our next best guess then?" Dean asked crankily.

"We'd have to ask Sam," John reminded him. "We should head back and check on him anyway."

The other three nodded in agreement and started to turn. They all hesitated as a man stepped out from where he'd been standing in the shadows of the crypt.

"Stop," he ordered.

None of them knew why, but they all responded immediately to the order. Their feet stopped moving and they all just stood looking at the newcomer.

"He said you'd come here," the man smiled, but it wasn't comforting at all. In fact, to Dean it looked like a crazy person's smile.

"Well aren't you smart," he mocked. "If it's all the same to you, we're leaving now."

"No you aren't," the smile was suddenly gone, replaced by a dark scowl. "Give me the gun."

Again, they were all helpless to do anything else as they each reached for their guns and held them out to the man. His eyes drifted over them quickly and his scowl got even darker.

"Not those!" he yelled. "The old gun! The antique. He said you'd have an old, antique revolver. Give me that one."

John's hand shook as he reached for the Colt and pulled it out of his jacket. He was trying to fight against the voice that seemed to wrap completely around his brain and leave him no choice but to do as it said.

"Dad!" Dean shouted.

As if he'd suddenly realized he was still holding his gun, he brought it up and pointed it at the man's head.

"No," he ordered. "All of you, guns to your heads. Except you, old man. Hand the revolver over, then you can do as I said. And everyone stay quiet."

The four hunters all locked eyes as they did exactly what the man said. Jess wanted to call for Sam, but she couldn't get the words out. It was like her throat was locked. She looked helplessly up to Dean, but he was just as mute as she was.

"Thank you," the man looked at the Colt in his hand. "Man, he's gonna be happy about this. You know, I almost wish I could let you all live, but orders are orders right? I don't make the rules, just have to follow them. Sorry."

He raised an eyebrow and four shots went off simultaneously...

* * *

"NO!" Sam yelled at the top of his lungs.

He gasped for air, and as his head cleared he realized he was lying in the dirt with an aching head and Orion practically climbing all over him. There hadn't been any warning before the vision hit this time around. One minute he'd been leaning against the Impala, staring in the direction that Dad, Bobby, Dean, and Jess had gone in and the next he was watching his family die.

"Screw this," he snarled. Knife wound be damned, he wouldn't let that happen.

He ignored the pain in both his head and his side as he checked his pistol and trotted off silently. While he moved as quietly as he could, he wondered who the man was. He hadn't been at Cold Oak, that was for sure. He seemed to have the same power as Andy had claimed to have, though. Andy had said something about being able to control people's actions by telling them what to do, which is exactly what it looked like this guy had done.

The sound of voices floated through the darkness and Sam changed his course slightly. He crouched, still ignoring the pain, and crept towards the sound.

"Man he's gonna be happy about this," Sam heard, and knew he needed to hurry. He circled so that the crazy man wouldn't see him. "You know, I almost wish I could let you all live, but..."

"But nothing," Sam snapped, stepping forward and putting his gun right to the man's temple. "Let. Them. Go."

"I don't need to use my words to make them do what I want, you know," the man said, way too easily for someone who had a gun to his head. "I could kill them right now without saying a peep."

"You do that and you won't be far behind," Sam warned. "Let them drop the guns."

"Only if you put yours down too," the man offered.

"Let them go first," Sam pushed his gun harder into the man's head.

"Fine," he sighed. He motioned to the other four and they all dropped their guns on the ground at their feet. He raised an eyebrow in Sam's direction. "Your turn, big guy."

Sam slowly lowered his gun, but didn't drop it to the ground.

"That's cheating," the man scolded. Without any warning, he rammed his elbow into Sam's side and bolted for the crypt they were standing next to.

"Sam!" Jess leaped for him while Dean, John, and Bobby scrambled to pick their guns up off the ground. Before any of them could stop him, the man had pushed the barrel of the Colt into a slot in the crypt's door, and a piece of the door surrounding it started to spin.

Three shots rang out, just a few seconds too late, and the man dropped to the ground in front of it. Bobby reached the door just as the symbol stopped spinning and revealed itself. His eyes went wide and he turned quickly to the others, who were crowded around Sam.

"Down! Everybody take cover!" he ordered.

He ducked behind a gravestone, while Dean and John helped pull Sam behind another. Jess crouched behind a third just as the doors to the crypt exploded open in a cloud of demon smoke.

"We gotta get that closed!" John yelled once the ripple effect from the explosion was over. He and Bobby were already running for the doors.

"What is it?" Dean and Jess followed close behind.

"A devil's gate!" Bobby explained, taking hold of one of the doors and pushing on it. "A door into Hell!"

"And that crazy guy just opened it?!" Dean's eyes went wide. He grabbed the other door, along with John, while Jess helped Bobby. Sam limped up to help, but there was no place for him. Instead he pulled the Colt from the slot and held it.

A sudden chill made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He looked around, but didn't see anything so he took a few steps away from the crypt. Suddenly, standing right in front of him, was the yellow-eyed demon. Before he had a chance to get the gun up, the demon flicked a hand and the Colt was yanked away.

"Nice try, champ," it mocked. Another flick and Sam found himself slammed into the ground again. "Set. Let's chat a moment."

"I 'chatted' with you long enough," Sam struggled, but the demon had him pinned against a headstone.

"You always were my favorite, Sammy," the demon smirked down at him. "Ansem there, he was my second favorite, but you were the one I was always rooting for."

"Lucky me," Sam realized his wriggling wasn't getting him anywhere so he stopped. "So what now? You open a gate to Hell, let out a whole bunch of nasty shit, and then..."

"Then you," the demon crouched down in front of him to look him in the eye. "I showed you how strong you can become, and that's only the beginning. You stick with me and..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Sam had noticed Dean creeping quietly over, but hadn't given the demon any sign. Now that Dean was close enough, he kicked out and caught the demon in the side of the head. Since he was crouching, Dean had expected him to be off balance. At the very least, he'd hoped to knock him over. Instead, the demon stayed steady and only turned glowing yellow eyes on him.

"That hurt," he raised an eyebrow and Dean went flying.

Once the demon's back was turned, Sam started struggling again. The further away the demon got, the more he could move, but it still wasn't enough for him to get up. He wanted to scream as the demon stalked towards Dean, who had been dazed when he'd slammed right into a headstone.

Suddenly, Orion pelted out of the bushes, headed straight for the demon. Sam had ordered the dog to stay back at the car. Apparently Ri didn't follow orders much better than he did himself.

The demon was knocked off balance by the force of being hit by the big dog. The colt flew out of his hands and he dropped his hold over both Sam and Dean for just a moment.

A moment was all Dean needed. He lurched forward and snatched the Colt up off the ground.

"Hey!"

The demon looked up to see Dean pointing the gun at him. He took a breath, as if he was going to say something, but he never got the chance.

Jess, Bobby, and John had just shoved the doors to the crypt all the way closed when the shot rang out across the cemetery. It felt almost like it was happening in slow motion, as everyone watched bullet drill straight into the demon's heart. There was a staticky, burning light that came from inside the demon as he dropped to his knees. A few seconds later, it was all over.

"Dean..." Sam looked at his brother with wide eyes.

"He's really dead," Dean whispered. He looked from the gun in his hand to the demon lying on the ground in front of him. He felt almost like he was in shock. "It's really over?"

"Son," John put a hand cautiously on Dean's shoulder. It had given him more satisfaction than he ever could've imagined to see his Mary's killer finally dead. By their own son's hand, too. He wanted a moment just to savor the feeling, but Dean needed him. "You did it."

"He's really dead," Dean repeated, less shaky this time. He looked up at John. "Dad. We got him!"

"You got him. And I couldn't be more proud of you," John smiled and looked over to where Sam was still sitting on the ground with Jess fussing over him. "I'm damn proud of both of you."

"What now?" Dean wondered. His entire life had been about finding this demon, and now that quest was over. He was still a hunter, there was no doubt in his mind about that, but he felt strangely directionless without something solid to hunt.

"Well, we don't know what all got out through that gate when it was open," Bobby pointed out. "There's gonna be a lot wandering around that we've never even seen before."

"Let's all get back to the vehicles and..." John stopped himself as he realized he was giving orders again. "I mean, what does everybody say to heading back to Bobby's? We can research what we can while we're there, it'll give Sam some time to heal up, and when we're ready we can get out after whatever pops up."

Sam, Dean, and Jess all nodded. Sam felt even more directionless than Dean did, though. He'd expected to have a sense of completion once the demon was dead. To be able to go back to his life at Stanford and pick up right where he'd left off. That wasn't how he felt at all, though.

"Think you can stand?" Jess asked gently. She'd known Sam too long not to recognize the look on his face as one that meant he was overthinking something.

"Yeah," he answered. Using the headstone to brace himself on, he slowly climbed to his feet with a wince of pain. The pain, plus the blood seeping through his shirt meant there was no doubt he'd torn some stitches. Dean or Jess could put them right back in once they got to their medical kit in the car, but it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Need me to take a look?" John offered, motioning to Sam's side.

"Popped some of my stitches," Sam admitted. "It'll keep until we get to the car. Let's get out of here. I don't like being near that thing, even dead."

"I second that," Bobby agreed.

* * *

"Okay, let's see," Jess ordered as she dug their medical kit out of the trunk. They'd sent John and Bobby off almost as soon as they'd gotten back to the vehicles. She and Dean were more than capable of handling a few stitches on their own, and they needed as much of a head start as they could get on whatever had gotten through that door.

"If you wanted to get my shirt off, you could've just asked," Sam grinned as he peeled it off with a wince and sat on the trunk of the Impala.

"God, kill me now," Dean rolled his eyes.

"Children, the both of you," Jess sighed. "Are you both done?"

"Doubt it."

"Probably not."

The brothers looked at each other and burst out laughing at their similar answers. Now that the demon's death had time to settle into their brains, they felt like they'd both been shot up with adrenaline. They were excitable and hyper and pretty much everything else. Poor Jess was going to need the patience of a saint to deal with the two of them on the ride back to Bobby's, they knew.

"You tore out some stitches alright," Jess commented, poking lightly at Sam's side. "Dean, I need you to hold the light so I can stitch him back up. Unless you want me to hold the light and you put the stitches in."

"Nah, go ahead," Dean took the flashlight from her. "I'll save hurting him for when he feels a little better and I keep my promise to kick his ass. Which I now have even more reason to do."

"Hey, I saved your asses back there," Sam reminded him. "If it hadn't been for me, you all would've been dead."

"I would've found a way out of it," Dean claimed. "How'd you know anyway? Vision."

"Yeah," Sam touched his head gently. In all the craziness, he'd almost managed to forget about his headache.

"Hold still," Jess ordered as she started in with the first stitch. Sam winced slightly, but didn't flinch.

"So, what was the demon talking about anyway?" Dean asked curiously. "I heard him when I crept up behind him. He said something about showing you how strong you would become. What'd he mean?"

"What?" Sam had heard him perfectly, but he wanted a second to think of what to say.

"You heard me," Dean called him out on it. "What was the demon talking about?"

"I have no idea," Sam claimed.

"Right," Dean raised an eyebrow. "Want to try that again?"

"Not particularly," Sam admitted.

"Let me rephrase. Try that again," Dean said, sterner this time.

"Fine. I had a vision of him when I was at Cold Oak," Sam huffed in frustration. "He claimed he was going to show me something, but before he got a chance Jake woke me up and said that Ava was missing. That's all I know."

"Why did he say that he'd shown you then?" Dean asked.

"Maybe he was going senile. I don't know," Sam snapped. "Seriously, Dean."

"You're lying," Dean frowned. He didn't know why his brother would be lying, but he was.

"No I'm not!" Sam lied. "Really, Dean, I mean it. Just...just _drop it_ okay?"

All of them jumped as Dean seemed to take it literally and dropped the flashlight he'd been holding. Jess rubbed at her forehead and tried not to get too annoyed with his antics. Her boys were excited, and when they got excited they got goofy.

"Kind of need that to see what I'm doing," she reminded him.

"Yeah. Sorry," Dean frowned as he picked the flashlight back up. What the hell had that been about? He hadn't meant to drop the flashlight, but when Sam had said "drop it" he just...had. He shook his head and focused back on his brother. "We're not done with this conversation, dude."

"Yes we are," Sam clenched his teeth.

"Sam, a demon all but said he showed you a vision of the future," Dean reminded him.

"Demons lie!" Sam pointed out. "Seriously, I don't want to talk about this right now."

"Tough," Dean tightened his hold on the flashlight while he tried not to lose his temper.

"This is taking twice as long as it needs to with you two bickering like this," Jess snapped at the both of them as Sam shifted positions yet again.

"It's his fault," Dean muttered.

"Oh shut up, Dean," Sam growled.

Dean fell silent at that, which Jess thought was odd. Usually telling Dean to shut up was as good as an engraved invitation for him to harass the hell out of whoever had said it. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was odd enough for her to notice.

"What do you think made it out through that gate while it was open?" Sam wondered after a minute of silence.

"Who knows," Jess finished up the last stitch. "Done. Are we ready to go?"

Sam was putting his shirt back on and Jess was cleaning up, so neither of them noticed the trouble Dean seemed to be having. He was pretty sure at this point that something was majorly wrong, though. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to say anything. He hadn't been able to make a peep since Sam had told him to shut up, come to think of it. Which made no sense.

"Dean?" Sam finished up first and looked back to his brother. "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

Dean tried again to say something and still couldn't. An idea was creeping into his brain, and he didn't like it.

"Dean?" Jess had noticed at this point, too. She saw the look on his face and was at his side in a flash. "Are you hurt? What's going on?"

Still nothing. As a last ditch resort, Dean finally started motioning to Sam, which only confused his brother and Jess even more.

"What?" Sam asked. "Dean, come on. It's too late for charades. Just talk to us, man."

"Thank god!" Dean exploded. "We have a problem."

"Where?" Jess looked him over critically for any signs of blood. There was some on his shirt, but it was Sam's from where Dean had needed to help him back to the car.

"Not me," Dean corrected her. "Sam, how much do we know about the other special kids?"

"Uh, not much," Sam wasn't sure where this conversation was going. "I'm pretty sure they're all dead except for me. Ava claimed she'd been there at Cold Oak for awhile and she'd killed a bunch of people with special abilities."

"How much do we know about the abilities, then?" Dean asked.

"Also not much," Sam answered. "Ava and I have visions, Max was telekinetic, Jake was super strong, and Andy and that kid Ansem could mind control people. What are you getting at?"

"I think that killing the demon might've had some...I don't know. Side effects maybe," Dean shifted uncomfortably.

"Side effects?" Sam and Jess shared a confused look.

"Dean honey, you're not making sense," Jess told him gently.

"When Sam told me to drop it a few minute ago, I felt almost like when that guy was mind controlling us back there in the cemetery," Dean admitted. "And again when he told me to shut up. It was like I couldn't _not_ do what he said. And I swear to god Sam if you use that against me, the next time I'm able to I will make sure even Dad won't be able to find your body."

"Slow down," Sam put his hands up. "Maybe it's just something residual from when Ansem mind controlled you guys. You know I can't actually do that."

"Maybe, maybe not," Dean had a feeling the jury was still out on that. "Either way, no more orders until we get it figured out, okay?"

"Fine," Sam figured that was easy enough to agree to.

He started to move around the car towards the passenger seat, when the branch of a nearby tree caught his sleeve. He tugged gently at it to get loose and ripped the entire thing out of the ground. He stood there for a second, holding a decent sized sapling in his hand and then turned to look at Dean and Jess, who somehow hadn't noticed.

"Hey guys," he said in a small voice. "I think we could have a problem."

"What kind of..." Dean broke off when he saw his little brother literally holding a small tree.

"Let's say, just hypothetically, that maybe Dean was right about you mind controlling him," Jess said after a moment. "And now you seem to have this super strength. What next?"

"Maybe it was ready to fall down anyway?" Sam scrambled for any logical reason he could.

"Or maybe now that the demon's dead all of those special abilities had to go somewhere," Dean suggested. "And you're the only one left for them to go to."

"We should get to Bobby's," Sam said quietly, climbing carefully into the car.

Dean and Jess shared a concerned look before following him. They'd been worried when Sam only had one ability. Now he seemed to have three, with the potential of at least one more showing up. Worried wasn't enough to cover it anymore. They both silently prayed for him to be okay as Dean maneuvered the Impala onto the highway and pointed it for South Dakota.

* * *

 _ **Additional Note:** So I guess I didn't really think out having Max survive back in Chapter 9. Oops. Also, I clearly have an issue killing off any main characters. Originally I was still going to have Jake kill Sam back in Cold Oak and John was going to make the deal to save him. Which then turned into Sam being injured, Henrickson coming in, and the mention of the judge from back in Chapter __4\. We see how that worked. *Sigh*_ _I'd love to hear what you guys think of that little twist at the end with Sam getting the other abilities, though. :-)  
_


End file.
